A/N: Well this'll be the last update for the next week or so, and I hope you enjoy it! R&R!


"Miss T'Soni?"

The Asari that was looking out over the trading floor turned around at the unfamiliar voice, and Andy raised his eyebrows at her beauty. The concept wasn't new to him; every single character he'd seen in the Mass Effect games looked better, or at the very least more detailed, than this universe's counterparts - and that was to be expected, as this was real life, and the game was just that: a game. The game however, truly did Liara no justice whatsoever, and Andy tried his even best to not get caught staring. She looked him over, dressed in his smart civilian clothes, and cocked her head to the side. "Yes?"

Holding out his hand he gave her a friendly smile, "My name is Andy Kronos, and I have some… information for you."

Her attitude changed almost immediately, and she took his offered hand with a matching smile. "Ah, excellent! What information do you have?"

"Well I could just happen to have information on John Shepard, and also on the Shadow Broker." He immediately had a gun pointed at his face and looked down the barrel with trained serenity. "Well I wasn't expecting this kind of reception."

"What do you know about John Shepard?"

"Well I know that you handed him over to Cerberus, and I also know that you keep his dog tags in your top left drawer."

"Commander," interrupted Kar'Shaal nervously, "perhaps it'd be in your best interest to not wind her up; she does have a gun to your head."

"And who are you?" she asked with a glare, and the Quarian held up his hands in a show of surrender.

"I'm Andy's pilot."

"Right," she murmured, and then turned her attention back to the blonde-haired man standing in front of her. "And who are you? Really?"

With a blur of movement he tore the pistol from her grip and ejected the thermal clip, and upon feeling herself disarmed Liara's skin immediately flared a magnificent blue. She threw her hands out towards Andy, but found herself completely and utterly shocked when his own biotics flared into being and quite literally stopped her throw attack in mid-air. "I really don't appreciate having a gun pointed at my head," he grinned, "that's why I disarmed you." He felt her biotics flare with more power and easily brought his own up to the same level; continually repelling her attacks.

"H-how?" she grunted with effort, "No humans can match an Asari Pureblood!"

"Well I seem to be faring pretty well," he quipped, his grin not diminishing in the slightest, "in fact I seem to be doing it quite easily. I've been told I can match an Asari Matriarch - not that I've tried mind you, but it's the reputation that counts." She finally let her biotics drop and watched warily as Andy did the same, relaxing when she saw that his stance was completely non-threatening. "So I'm not going to find myself looking down the barrel of a shotgun next, am I?" She had the decency the blush; her cheeks turning a deeper shade of blue, and Andy thought her expression very cute.

"No," she replied silkily, "I only carry a sidearm, and I do apologise for my actions, but my business forces me to take precautions."

"Quite alright," assured the young man with a grin, "and I wouldn't worry about any bugs in this office; I'm shorting them out with a program running on my Omni-tool." She looked at him, shocked, and he took a seat without it being offered, Kar following his example a moment later. "Now Miss T'Soni, I realize that you had a romantic relationship with John Shepard at the time of his death. I know this is a sore topic, but things that I know, and plan to do, depend on your decisions and dreams for the future."

She had sobered at the mention of Shepard's death, but nodded after a moment. "Yes, we were romantically involved."

"I'm afraid I'll need something more than that, Miss T'Soni." She sat down and stared at a holo-frame on her desk for several seconds before Andy saw the tears slowly travel down her cheeks, and she hastily swiped them away - embarrassed at showing such emotion in front of a complete stranger. "You're in love with him," he stated softly after a moment, and her eyes snapped to his - wary for a moment, but then they calmed when she saw the understanding expression on his face. "Well that makes things more… difficult."

"Mister Kronos, what do you know?"

Her tone was slightly demanding, and Andy frowned. "Miss T'Soni, I appreciate that you love him, and I also appreciate that you're in the business of information brokering, but I'm not like those other low-life informants you're used to dealing with. The information I have could turn this entire galaxy on its head, several times over, and I would be grateful it if you didn't rush me." Her expression told him that she wasn't used to being talked down to, but he ignored that as he thought about how his plotted actions would change the timeline should he make them a reality. "Firstly, two years after Shepard died he will come back to life - don't ask me the specifics," he interrupted before she could voice her own, "because I don't know them. He will come back, and coming here will probably be his first port of call, or at the very least one of the first. Now you need to make a decision right this moment, and it will shape the rest of your life." She nodded, and he gave a deep sigh. "What comes first to you? Being with Shepard, or information brokering?"

She looked positively scandalized, "I would choose Shepard! How could I do anything else?"

He looked at her and gave a wry smile, and neither Liara nor Kar heard his muttered, "Because you chose the latter in the game." He sat forward and gave a nod however, understanding that the time he had posed the question may have altered her response, and continued forth with his plan. "Very well. You've changed, even since Shepard died, because of the Shadow Broker," he commented, "and that will hurt Shepard if you continue down that path. A little bit of ruthlessness is fine, hell, even illegal is fine, but you're headed down the path of no return Miss T'Soni, and you need to pull out now if you want to truly be with Shepard."

She stared at him for some time, and then shook her head with a look of bewilderment. "Who are you? How can you know all this?"

He smiled lightly, not wanting to detract from the seriousness of his words with a grin, and shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, and that's beside the point. I know I'm asking you for a hell of a lot considering we've just met, but for what I've got planned I need to know that you trust me like I trust you." After a moment his eyes widened with an idea and he cocked his head. "If it would make you any more comfortable, you could attempt a partial meld with me in order to discern my intentions - but I would only agree to a partial meld; there are some things I would rather not have known." She seemed reluctant and Andy gave her a reassuring smile, "I know you find melding to be… intense, but I assure you that I can aid you in limiting the experience - I've been trained by an Asari Matriarch."

She nodded after another moment, and Andy walked over to her where she placed her hands on either side of his head and, with a small jolt of energy peered into his eyes with her now-black orbs. "Embrace Eternity."

He felt her mind joining with his and her panic when her system attempted to continue deepening the meld into one befitting of reproductive status, but she calmed when Andy flared his biotics to quell the urge. He allowed her a brief look at his intentions and feelings, and then cut her abruptly off when his memories started being accessed. She lowered her hands with a look of amazement, and he returned to his seat before crossing his legs and smiling. "So do you trust me now?"

"Kronos, are you sure about this? My sources tell me that this biotic is very dangerous."

Andy looked up from the terminal on his desk and leant back in his chair when he saw Liara staring questioningly at him from her own terminal across from him; lining one of the walls. "She is dangerous," he affirmed, "but she's still… she can still be saved. I'm not going to lie and tell you that she's a ray of sunshine, in fact she's probably the polar opposite of you; volatile, coarse, lacking in innocence, and violent, but… there's just something about her."

"You love her?"

His eyes widened and he gave a small bark of laughter, but then sunk into seriousness when he thought about her question. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about trying to recreate the relationship he had had with the young woman in the game, but love? "No… at least not yet. I am attracted to her, and I hope that that will go somewhere, but we'll see."

Seeing that it was a somewhat touchy subject for the man Liara just nodded and returned to her terminal; leaving the young soldier to his thoughts. Three hours later Kar'Shaal turned around in his seat and informed them that they were half an hour out from their destination and both Andy and Liara went to their respective quarters to get changed into the new armour, courtesy of some contacts that the young Asari had on Illium and a couple hundred thousand credits that Andy had built up over the years. He'd decided to go with a matte-black theme with the only colour coming from the bright blue lighting of the Kestrel sheathing, and if he was honest with himself it looked positively badass. He met with Liara in the Armoury and as he was picking out his weapons Liara spoke. "I'm sorry if I was too bold in my questions before, Andy; it was not my place."

He turned his head over his shoulder and sent her a warm, reassuring smile. "No, it's okay - in fact I needed that question asked. I've been avoiding the topic, but now we're about to actually get her on board it's something that I need to know about myself, as it could affect my plans and the safety of my crew."

She watched him slip his Mattock assault rifle on his back and picked up a machine gun herself. "And, if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do?"

He grinned at her as he slid the last weapon into place, "Me? I'm going to do my saving people thing."

"You think you can heal her?"

He looked out the window that gave a view of the stars outside and nodded. "With time, with patience, with a lot of hard work… yeah, I think that I can. I want to show her that love is possible, and that it can work."

"But you said you're not in love with her."

"Yet," he added, and turned around with a smile, "that doesn't mean I can't… and I don't think it'll be hard to do so. Once I get past that hard exterior… I think that I'm going to fall in love at first sight."

Before Liara could comment Kar came over the intercom and told them that they were docking, and both of them looked out the window to see the huge and rather daunting prison ship that was looming in front of them. "We're going to get her out of there?"

"Yeah…" even he felt a little cowed by the huge structure, and he walked out onto the main deck with Liara following close behind to watch their approach. "Now just a small warning, the warden is corrupt as hell, as I'm sure you know," he motioned to Liara, and she nodded in the affirmative, "and he could try something underhanded. He's going to try and get us to leave our weapons behind at the entrance foyer, but don't give him any ground. My name isn't well known yet, so that's a bonus, and you're pretty off-the-map Liara, so he doesn't have anything to gain by stabbing us in the back, but don't discount that possibility. Now I've transferred payment to him to get Jack out of cryo and transferred to us, but all hell's going to break loose when they do, because she isn't going to take nicely to being woken up. Alarms are going to go off, and everything's going to be pretty chaotic for a while - at least until we catch up with Jack. They're not going to want to let her go after the damage she's going to unleash, so we're going to need to get the hell off this place the moment we convince her to come."

"Is this another one of those things where you know stuff you probably shouldn't Commander? And where we shouldn't ask because we wouldn't believe you even if you told us?"

Andy gave a chuckle and nodded, "Yes, it is one of those times. Perhaps when the Reaper threat is over and done with I'll tell you, but not a second before."

Several minutes later Liara and Andy stepped out of the airlock and into the arrivals foyer; both of them wearing the latest Recon Hoods that covered their heads completely with a ballistic mesh and had an enhanced HUD over their eyes. They were halted by a Blue Suns soldier as they were about to move up the steps, and Andy almost laughed at the civility he was shown when he was spoken to; he wondered if they'd be as welcoming if they knew he'd pretty much wiped out their Omega branch singlehandedly. "I'm afraid that as this is a high security vessel you'll need to relinquish you weapons before you proceed."

Andy looked at the man for several seconds before looking over his shoulder, and he almost scowled when he saw the warden come out of the doors ahead. "Mister Kronos, I'm Warden Kuril; the owner of this ship. Your weapons will be returned when you leave, of that I assure you - but this is just standard procedure where clients are involved."

Thinking back to the game when he'd played he gave the response he thought Shepard had given when in the same situation, with a little bit of goading to boot. "Well it's my standard procedure to keep my weapons, and besides, if this is such a high security vessel then I'm sure you can handle two clients who just want some peace of mind."

The Turian stared at him for several seconds, and had the situation been any less important Andy would have laughed at the macho-stare-down the warden was trying to initiate. His glare was met by the blonde's calm, serene gaze, and eventually the man relented and he signalled to his guards to stand down. "I'm sure we can handle two armed guests within our halls. We're bringing Jack out of cryo right now, and your funds just cleared. If you'll follow me to out-processing then you can be on your way."

"Mind if we watch Jack come out of cryo?"

The man shrugged and gave a nod, and the two followed him down the hallways as he explained the workings of the prison. Liara looked astonished when the Turian admitted that if home planets didn't pay his fees then he'd drop the criminals back without notice, but before she could comment Andy caught her eye and shook his head; the last thing they needed to do was piss off the warden before everything went to hell. They finally reached the oh-so-familiar room where in the game Shepard had had to hack the console and release every prisoner in the entire facility, and the Warden punched in a code to the haptic interface. Andy's Omni-tool subtly recorded the finger positions and transferred them for use at a later point.

It was almost a carbon-copy moment of what had happened in the game, and Liara's jaw was slack by the time the biotic had powered her way through three YMIR Mechs and blasted a rather sizable hole in the wall to make her daring escape. Carefully slipping away in the chaos that ensued wasn't that hard, and the two walked through the halls as the Klaxons blared all around them and red lights flashed irritatingly. "You knew that this was going to happen, how?"

With a grin he tapped the side of his nose as they continued towards the window where they would be able to see their docked ship, and when they finally arrived in that particular hallway Andy took a seat near the wall and crossed his legs before sinking deep into a trance-like state. Liara watched, amazed, as the young man exhibited unprecedented control over his biotics; his body hugged by a thin but powerful layer of dark energy, and so she settled down to wait for whatever they were waiting for - keeping herself occupied by watching something she had previously considered impossible from a human. Contrary to what it looked like, Andy was highly aware of everything around him, infinitely more so than normally possible in fact. He had tiny, hair-thin tendrils of dark energy floating through all of the halls around him sensing for life forces, and when he felt an incredibly powerful one trigger his own he stood up and threw his hands outwards just as Jack came sprinting around the corner with Blue Suns on her heels. Everyone stopped and stared in amazement as a veritable vortex of purple and blue tore around the biotic, even Jack herself, at least until the mass of Blue Suns suddenly screamed out in agony as they too were surrounded by the same maelstrom of energy.

Andy could feel the life energy that his Reave was pulling from the Blue Suns and, had his face been uncovered, they would have borne witness to a feral grin as they fell to the ground, finally dead. It was to this scene that Warden Kuril entered, and all three turned to look at him. Jack's eyes widened when she realized that this man was her jailor, and with a roar of fury she charged at him; her biotic barriers automatically shielding her from the bullets he was desperately firing at her. When she reached him her lips twisted into a victorious snarl, and a second later she plunged her hand right through his armour where it burst out the back of him in a shower of gore and blue blood. The look on the warden's face was almost humorous; filled with shock at being defeated by one of his own prisoners. He collapsed face-first to the ground with a muted splat when the young woman withdrew her bloodied arm from his chest, and Andy soon found himself looking right into an approaching shockwave. His biotics flared to life once more; his triggers automatically activating a trained response from him, and his own energy easily overpowered Jack's; neutralising the massive, pounding trail of biotics.

Jack gaped at him, and he finally lowered his arms before removing his recon hood and tucking it into some mesh on the side of his armour. Giving her a cheeky grin he held out his arm to point to his ship that was docked just outside the window, "Jailbreak for Jack!"

"Who the fuck are you?"

He had the gall to look affronted at her tone, and inside he was smirking; he could see just how fun it would be to wind her up. "Little old me? My name is Andy Kronos just a freelance merc."

"If you think I'm coming with you then you can go and fu-"

"And where else are you going to go, eh?" That question shut her up and he continued with a small smile, "Look, I came here to get you out so that you could join my crew, so are you going to take the offer or not? It even comes with dental."

"Dent… what the fuck?"

"Well I was looking for a 'yes' or a 'no', but a 'what the fuck' does me as well. Either way you're getting the hell off this ship before more Blue Suns come here to investigate, so follow me."

Not waiting for an answer he turned on his heel, surreptitiously winking at the gaping Liara as he did so, and began walking. It took a moment for the young woman to get her wits about her, but she finally ran after Andy and Liara before bombarding the former with questions. "Look, I don't know who the fuck sent you but you should know that I don't do joining crews."

"Well you're going to have to make an exception here Jack," he quipped back easily, and she sent him a scowl before launching a biotic-enhanced punch at him.

She found herself blasted back into the wall before her fist could make contact, and a second later had Andy right up in her face with a small scowl on his lips; his biotics easily overpowering hers and holding her tight against the metal at her back. "I travelled from Illium to save your ass," he growled, "and I spent five hundred thousand credits to get in here and get you out of cryo - you owe me big time because I have intelligence that the warden had scheduled you for some… pleasure with some paying clients next week." He saw a small shudder run through her body at what he was implying and let his biotics release her where she fell to her knees. "Look, it's been a long day and using my biotics like I have is taking its toll. Come with me, get some sleep yourself, and then when I wake up you can ask your questions."

She eyed him for several seconds before nodding and standing up, and he started walking once more. "I- thanks I guess."

She couldn't see his wide eyes and slightly slack jaw as he was walking in front of her, but he was clearly shocked at what she had said. Liara caught his surprise, and raised an inquiring eyebrow, but he shook his head slightly and she turned her attention back to the docking module they were walking towards. "You're welcome." Apparently he had gained a fair amount of respect from the young woman to have her actually thank him without a curse word thrown in, though the lack of Cerberus paraphernalia and his incredible display of biotics probably had something to do with it. His Omni-tool overrode the lockdown with the same code Kuril had used to take Jack out of cryo, and the three boarded the recently-named Icharus. Jack let out a low whistle when she saw the luxuriousness of the interior and Andy gave a tired chuckle before nodding to Liara who went into the armoury to offload her weapons and armour. "Kar!" he yelled up to the front of the ship, "Get us out of here and set course for the Citadel."

"Why're we heading there?"

"We're going to get settled in and make some plans."

"Aye Commander, we'll be about five days travel."

Andy settled back into his chair and looked across at Jack who was playing with the galaxy map. "Well Liara'll be about ten minutes so I can answer any questions you have until I can offload my gear."

The biotic turned around to peer at him and then sat down in a spare chair after a second. "Fine, first you can tell me just how the fuck your biotics are more powerful than mine; I've never met a human stronger than me."

Andy gave a dry chuckle, "You and I have something in common in that respect," he admitted, "we've both been experimented on by Cerberus."

Her eyes immediately darkened and her posture took on a more threatening appearance. "Cerberus? What the fuck did they do to you?"

"Well they amped up my biotics, excuse the terrible pun; stuck a sub-dermal infiltrator cloak in me; modified my DNA; and then, the kicker, replaced every single muscle and bone in my body with cybernetics and synthetics. Hell, even my skin's been treated for strength."

She gaped at him and he sent her a small grin, "'Course I'd still say you had it worse than I did. I was unconscious for the most part, and after I woke up I found that they'd given me a luxury apartment and hired three of the best in their respective fields to train me."

And then she attacked, or at the very least tried. She slammed into a barrier created by the man standing in front of her and then found herself held in a stasis field; unable to move in the slightest. He sent her a small glare in response to the assault. "I hate Cerberus with a passion Jack, so don't you dare assume I'm working for them. You don't know the first thing about me, and I know all about you, so keep your cool and let me explain before you jump to conclusions." Waiting for her eyes to display her surrender he let her go and returned to sitting back in his chair with a sigh. "So they trained me, and then Cerberus turned me out on my arse to go freelance." He held up his hands to stop her interruption even before it could begin, "I don't know why they did it, but if the abnormalities in my amp and infiltrator layer's programming variables were anything to go by then they intended to control me through force if I did something against what they wanted me to do. I managed to imprint new firmware on both of them, and my cybernetics, so any controls they had to laud over me are gone now."

"I might not know shit about all that technical crap Kronos, but I sure as fuck know that if such a thing was possible then everybody'd be running around with biotics, cloaking mechanisms, and cybernetics."

He gave a helpless shrug, "Hey, I'm as clueless as you. S'far as I can tell I'm a one in a trillion sort of bloke in that respect. Apparently I'm one of Cerberus' mad experiments that actually went right."

"Fuck that."

Andy couldn't agree more. Liara walked out of the armoury in her casual wear and the blonde stood up, groaning happily as several vertebrae cracked back into place. "Well I'm knackered," he murmured, "so I'll see you whenever I wake up, or whenever you wake up… whatever." He pointed to the end door that led to the crew's quarters, "You can either sleep in there with Kar and Liara or I've got a stretcher set up downstairs in the engine core."

She raised an eyebrow at his knowledge of her preferences and he sent her a lopsided smile, "Just ask Kar and Liara; I know shit that I shouldn't - now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and crash… and sleep for a day… or two."

Jack watched her saviour walk wearily into the armoury until the doors hissed shut behind him and she crossed her arms while looking at the locked door in confusion. "What the fuck?"


Much to Andy's expectation the young convict had decided to camp out on the lower deck, and when he awoke and stumbled down the stairs to get breakfast he found her sitting at the dining table tucking into a sandwich. She watched him make his way to the fridge with amusement written all over her face. "Rough night eh Kronos?"

"Fuck you," he shot back, and a rare grin tugged at her lips; finally someone who could relate to her. He'd been an experiment of Cerberus' as well, and not only was he on par with her own biotics, but far surpassed them, and if he was to be believed, which she oddly thought he was, then he was enhanced with damn near everything the 'verse had to offer as well. After fixing himself a rather messy sandwich himself he collapsed onto the chair and finished it in five seconds flat before rising once more and fixing himself another one; this time just staying at the counter to save time. Two minutes and six sandwiches later he was done and he sat down once again contentedly patting his stomach.

He watched stealthily as Jack looked him over; her eyes judgemental and now somewhat suspicious, and knew what was coming. "What do you want?"

"Well I want your help with this mission we're currently on, and then we'll see what happens."

Her stare intensified, "You want something more from me Kronos? Because if you do then you might as well just fucking say so."

Andy leant back in his chair and met her slight glare with his highly practiced serene one, and he could easily see the signs of expectation and slight anger there in her body language. "In other words, Jack, you're asking me if I want to fuck you." It wasn't a question, rather a statement, and he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if you want to know the answer to your question then you'd best just tell me what you fucking mean." His slight grin took any sting out of his words and she gaped at him for several very long seconds, and he gave a laugh. "What, not used to people matching you in wit? I'm not your average grunt, Jack, so get used to the fact that I actually have brains in here," he tapped his skull with his grin widening, and he saw her lips twitch slightly before she clearly forced herself back into seriousness.

"Well then tell me Kronos, you wanna fuck me?"

He made a show of looking her over; his eyes clinging to her eyes, lips, and breasts for a moment longer than any of her other features, and he eventually shook his head before making his way over to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. "Want one?" he called over his shoulder and she found herself speechless once more.

"Well… yeah, but- wait a minute, answer my fucking question shithead!"

"How do you take it?" Oh he was loving this, and had to stifle a grin at how he was playing her.

"White, double with one suga- what the fuck? Answer me!" When he finally turned around she saw his grin and she stared at him with her jaw slack. "Okay, what the fuck Kronos - I was asking you questions and then I found myself answering yours… how the fuck did you do that?"

"Subtle manipulation," he explained as he brewed the coffee, "takes ages to get it right, but it helps like hell in negotiations. You were pissed, I was calm; you were starting to yell, I talked quietly; you were ordering me to answer, and I asked you nicely - all opposites of what you were doing."

"So what?"

He could hear the interest in her tone, and the lack of the anger he'd heard there previously, and smiled to himself as he got two mugs ready. "Well your brain suddenly thought 'what the hell am I doing? I'm yelling at a murmuring man, how ridiculous!' and so you quietened down, and it did the same with your emotions, 'why am I pissed at a calm, easy going bloke?' sort of thing. Turning your questions back on you worked the exact same way."

"…that's pretty fucking cool Kronos."

He gave a laugh and walked over with their steaming drinks; sliding hers over to her before sitting down himself and taking a delighted sip of the brew. "Hard to learn though, but I could teach you if you wanted to learn how to do it."

Her eyes turned suspicious once more. "Okay, this time what the fuck Kronos. You know about me; I've done all kinds of messed up shit; murder, theft, drugs, arson, and that kind of crap is boring for me. Chances are I'll end up fucking killing you or something, and you're offering to teach me something that could help me do all that kind of shit easier?"

He looked at her, all traces of joking gone from his expression, and just looked deep into her cinnamon eyes with a small frown marring his brow. It had been years since somebody had dared scrutinize her in such a way without being killed for it, but Jack knew that if she was unarmed, and despite the fact that he was still worn out from his incredible biotic display the day before she knew that he could still wipe the floor with her. "Fuck it," he murmured and called up his Omni-tool before quickly running a program to link it into the ships communication system. "Kar, we're going to change course if that's all the same to you."

"Your ship Commander."

"Set course for Pragia in the Dakka system," he ordered, and he saw Jack's suspicion return, and her body tense, "we have a Cerberus facility to nuke."

A second later he found himself slammed into the nearest wall and was looking down into Jack's furious brown eyes and snarling lips. "Fuck you," she spat, "I don't care if you're a freelance or just like me, you've got to want something out of this and I want to know just what the fuck it is."

He had localized some biotics at his throat to prevent her from crushing his windpipe, and he stared down at her before flaring it slightly to push her away. She landed on her butt and he brushed himself off before sitting down once more and motioning to the chair opposite. He could see the conflict in her expression as she tried to decide whether or not to do as he was asking, but she finally gave in and sat down rather violently before fixing him with an expression that clearly said, 'start talking right the fuck now'. "You've been in cryo for three years," he started, "so you don't know shit about what's been going on. The Citadel was attacked by a sentient machine called a Reaper around five months ago, and we discovered that the entire thing was an inactive mass relay. These Reapers were planning on using it to come through from Dark Space and wipe us all out; every single species and life form that this universe has to offer."

Jack looked disbelieving for several seconds, or at least until Andy pulled up a hologram that had recently been wiped from the extranet; a news report showing vids of the huge ship Sovereign. "Why the fuck would they do that?"

Andy shrugged, "I don't know; it seems pointless, but they do it all the same. It was the Reapers that wiped out the Protheans in fact, so they're powerful as hell if they were able to destroy such an advanced race. They were thwarted by the first human Spectre John Shepard and his team upon the SSV Normandy, and everything went back to normal… so normal in fact, that the Council denies the existence of the Reapers and has called the one that attacked the Citadel a 'Geth Flagship' for fuck's sake. John Shepard was killed in action during an investigation into missing ships, but his body was later recovered by Liara."

"The Asari, right?"

He nodded in the affirmative, "Right. So she handed his body over to Cerberus," he held up his hand when he saw her anger resurface, "yes, I know, but it was the right thing to do - trust me. They're currently working on something called the Lazarus Project, and in just under a year from now John Shepard is going to be brought back to life, given a new frigate called the Normandy SR-2, and tasked with stopping the Collectors, who are Protheans that were genetically enslaved by the Reapers, from abducting human colonies." He gave her confused expression a wry grin in return, "It's one of those things that I can't really tell you how I know, but suffice to say that he'll be back. Now what I want to do, and I hope that I can possibly convince you to do, is to make a name for ourselves, put our abilities out there, so that he'll recruit us for the mission."

"You're insane," she murmured with wide eyes, and he gave a chuckle before taking another mouthful of coffee.

"In the job description, and you fit it just as well as I do. Look, you don't have to do this; if you'd like then you can leave this crew once we've taken down the Shadow Broker," he grinned widely at her shocked expression, "and yes, that's the mission I was talking about, but I'd be… honoured? No, I'd be very happy if you were to join this crew for the long run."

And there it was; all his cards bar a few on the table, especially the one about him being attracted to her for the time being. Andy met her gaze evenly, allowing her to see that he wasn't screwing around, and she finally gave a sigh and sat back with her expression far softer than it had been previously. He was delighted to see it. "You're pretty much asking me to work for Cerberus Kronos, and I fucking hate them with a passion… but you're putting off your mission to let me blow up a Cerberus facility? I just don't get it."

"Not just any Cerberus facility Jack." Her eyes widened for a second before turning almost tearful and Andy almost kicked himself; he'd made incredible progress getting through her shell thus far, but it was getting to the point where he was almost pushing too hard. "We were going to nuke that place whether or not you decided to join the crew permanently Jack, but now that we're on the way just think about the offer, okay? And as for your worries, keep them because I really don't care. You won't end up killing me because you simply can't, and if you decide to take me up on that training then not only will your biotics be boosted but you'll find yourself changing… in a good way." He looked at his Omni-tool that was still uplinked to the ship's navigational systems and saw that they were about to hit the relay that would lead them to the Nubian Expanse, and from there to the Dakka system. "I'm heading up to the bridge, but feel free to take a look in the armoury - I purchased some stuff that I thought you might like before we picked you up."

Leaving the confused young woman to her thoughts he made his way up to the cockpit and looked at the approaching relay; looking majestically powerful in the dark expanse of space. "Never get tired of that sight Commander," commented Kar, and Andy could only nod in agreement; it never ceased to amaze him at times just where he was, and when he was. He watched as the tendrils of blue shot like lightning out to their ship before pulling them parallel to the giant structure, and then with a barely noticeable jolt they were travelling faster than the speed of light across the galaxy. The Quarian and Andy just sat looking at the beautiful blue swirls of the wormhole around them for nearly an hour before the latter stood up, cracked his back, and made his way into the armoury to fiddle around with some of the calibration algorithms on his M-97 Viper sniper rifle. Liara came in after around half an hour and sat down to watch him work, and he waited for the question that was inevitably coming. "Why are we going to Pragia Andy?"

He lay the rifle down over his lap and gave a sigh, "It's where Cerberus experimented on Jack, hence the reason we're going to nuke it. Hopefully it'll give her some closure and allow her to start healing."

"With you."

He looked at her with a small smile, "I most certainly wouldn't mind but I don't want to rush her. If I'm going to have a relationship then it isn't just going to be a one-time romp in the sack." She looked confused at the idiom and he gave a teasing grin, "In other words, Liara, to put it crudely, a quick fuck."

He laughed when her cheeks turned a dark blue and went back to modifying the trigger algorithm. "Andrew, you are aware of just how dangerous she is, don't you?"

He nodded in the affirmative, "Yeah, but as I told you earlier, underneath that hard, crude, cold exterior she's a woman just like any other, and she has emotions running rampant like the best of us. Hopefully you'll see some of that once the Teltin Facility's up in flames."

"Andrew, the only person she is vaguely civil to is you. I tried to talk to her last night and she called me 'tentacle head', and when Kar attempted to converse she referred to him as 'bucket'." He tried to stifle his chuckles, he really did, but he couldn't quell it well enough and soon burst into laughter at the affronted expression on Liara's face. She let out a huff and crossed her arms angrily, and this just made Andy laugh harder. "The look on your face," he wheezed out, and then dissolved back into laughter once more. Figuring that he wasn't laughing at the derogatory names but rather her reaction to them she relaxed slightly. "Aw that's priceless; Kar's got a new nickname."

Liara shook her head in despair but then turned her attention back to the topic that had her so interested. "How do you know that there's someone capable of loving in her?"

Andrew just tapped the side of his nose and gave her a wink as he answered, "Just another one of those things."

It had taken three days of travelling, and during each of their talks during that time he'd seen Jack getting tenser and tenser. He could see her shaking slightly as the complex came into view out of the window and Kar held the ship steady at ten thousand feet above the facility; their ship far too big to land on the pad far below them. Andy checked the pack strapped to the back of his light armour, as he'd decided on speed over defensive capabilities this time, and he looked over at the young woman who was fiddling with the skin-tight black armour she was wearing. "This is fucking uncomfortable Kronos," she moaned, "I was comfortable in my freaking-"

"Strap?" She glared at him, and he met her glare just like the rest - and after a couple of seconds she relented and gave a breathy, "How the fuck do you do that?"

"We're at two thousand meters and holding commander. We'll retreat to thirty thousand feet while you two do your thing and then drop by for a slingshot - though I still think you're mental. We've really got to see about getting a small travel craft attached to the bottom of this thing."

"Slingshot?" questioned Jack, and she got a shrug in return.

"Just a pickup method that I'm sure will appeal to your insane side - I sure as hell know that it appeals to mine."

He opened the airlock and looked down, and with a small 'follow me' motion to Jack he leapt out of the hovering spacecraft and plummeted downwards. He loved jumping; there was nothing else that compared. With his helmet's auditory filters switched off there was simply blissful silence as the ground got closer and closer, and the feel of complete and utter freedom that surrounded him. He held out an arm to change the friction and flip him onto his back and found himself staring at a rapidly approaching Jack, whose face behind the mask clearly showed that she was thankful she was wearing the new armour; without it she'd be freezing. Four hundred meters away from the landing pad Andy activated his chute, and a mass-effect field was suddenly generated underneath him; slowing him down until he stepped onto the hard concrete with the grace of someone who had simply stepped off a small ledge. Jack wasn't quite as graceful; not accustomed to the method of travel, but managed quite well for a first timer.

He wondered whether or not Aresh would be here again, but quickly discredited that theory; the last time he'd 'been' here it was two and a bit years in the future and Aresh was just starting to move in. He saw Jack standing stock-still as she looked at the huge, faded Cerberus logo that was painted on the side of the building and walked over to her before placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped away with a hiss at his touch, and let out a growl before realizing that it was just him and relaxing slightly, though it was clear that she was still highly strung. "C'mon, let's get inside, plant the bomb, and then blow this place to hell. I doubt you want to be here for longer than you have to be."

He received a sharp nod in return and they walked down the stairs; both of them with their pistols by their sides just in case. As they walked through the complex Jack explained certain places; certain memories that were triggered, and Andy was finding it hard to not just go and hug the woman. The game didn't express her emotions like seeing her in real life did; the minute expressions that meant so much and conveyed pain, suffering and vulnerability despite the fact she was talking about killing others and enjoying it. They finally came to her room, and he took a step back to give her space to move about freely and not feel boxed in; that was the last thing he wanted to do, especially in such a place which brought forth such memories for her. As she slowly walked around she gave him a commentary of how she was treated, and the raw emotion in her voice had Andy hating his benefactors even more than he already did. Finally she took in a deep breath and knelt down in the centre of the room to plant the small but infinitely powerful bomb. A couple of seconds later she stood and turned to him with a nod. "Okay, no more wallowing - let's blow this place to hell."

Three minutes later they were standing back on top of the landing pad and Jack was looking around with a confused expression on her face. "How the hell are we getting off here Kronos?"

"It's called a slingshot," he explained with a grin, "because that's what Kar is going to do. He's going to come in on a shallow trajectory with two cables coming out behind the ship, and then head vertical when he reaches us. The cables will shoot past us, and we grab onto them when they do so."

"…have I told you you're insane today?"

"I think so, but another time doesn't hurt," he quipped with a grin, "now you might have to jump if he's a little bit off, so charge that with your biotics if you need to, and make sure to encase your arm, hand, and shoulder with energy else you're liable to be missing an arm, 'kay?" She gave him a look that was clearly questioning his sanity, but didn't have time to rebuke as Andy pointed upwards, "Here he comes, get ready." She watched as the ship came swooping down with two black wires streaming behind it, and with a deep breath and a silent wish that this wouldn't be the day she lost an arm, she jumped at the exact same time Andy did. Pulling her biotics to surround her arm and provide it with some support she reached out and latched onto the cable; holding on for dear life. The jolt was indescribable, and yet the adrenaline rush that burst through her system when they shot upwards was all-consuming. From his own cable Andy grinned knowingly and watched as the hull of the ship came nearer and nearer until they found themselves entering the airlock from a hatch that had opened up in the bottom of the ship. When the floor closed up behind them Jack stared at him with a gleeful grin on her face. "That was fucking awesome Kronos."

He gave a mock bow as the doors to the bridge opened and grinned right back. "My pleasure." He sobered as they approached the window from which they could see the small spec that was the facility surrounded by green vegetation and he placed his hand on her shoulder, hoping like hell that she wouldn't blow up at the contact like she would've done with Shepard. To his surprise, relief, and happiness she just looked at him with a small smile and then turned back to the window as she pressed the button on the detonator she had clutched tightly in her hand. They watched as a flash of light erupted from the facility, and then a huge shockwave spread out for kilometres as a mushroom cloud rose up from the crater that was left in the bombs wake. Giving her a small squeeze he let his hand drop to his side and made his way to the armoury to offload; he knew she'd need time to assimilate all the changes in her situation and history, and had no problem leaving her to her thoughts - if she wanted to talk then she knew where to find him.

"Kar, set course for the Citadel would you? I've got a private docking port in the Presidium that I've uploaded the coordinates to, so head there. I've integrated the identification algorithms as well so you should be able to just head on in without any challenge."

"How the hell do you have a private dock in the Presidium?"

He gave a shrug despite the fact that the Quarian couldn't see him, "Cerberus purchased a luxury apartment for me, I sold it because it was bugged to hell, and then I used the money from the sale as well as some from various missions I've done over the years with my trainers to buy a private, and very secure complex on the Presidium."

"Well… okay then. Setting course now Commander; estimated time of arrival is six days."

He nodded to himself and quickly got dressed in his casual clothes before stepping out of the changing cubicle and placing all of his gear back in their appropriate places. "You fucking like me, don't you Kronos?"

"I thought that'd be obvious by now," he agreed without turning around to face the woman leaning in the doorway.

"You never answered my question earlier."

"No, I did seem to evade it quite nicely, didn't I?"

"Stop fucking around Kronos, if you just want a quick shag then say so."

"Jack," he said lowly as he turned around, and she was slightly taken aback by the seriousness in his eyes, "I saved you from a prison, took you back to the place you were tortured so you could get closure, and all without any obligation from you. I told you that you could leave whenever you wanted; you have free choice to do whatever the hell you want, so I think that'd convey the fact that I do not want, as you so crudely put it a few days ago, to fuck you. If I was going to be intimate with you then it sure as shit wouldn't be fucking, Jack, because I that isn't a relationship, and that's what I want." Jack was clearly taken aback by his tone and moved out of his way when he walked past her and onto the bridge. Before she could say anything he turned his head over his shoulder and said so lowly that only she could hear, "And if you dare insinuate that I'm so low as to guilt-trip a woman like that then you can get the fuck off my ship, whether I care about you or not."