Chapter 33: Games of love and war, Part V

-Citadel, Chora's Den

"Danger, I can't believe you wanted to come to this hole." Jane Shepard took a seat across from her friend, who was carefully stuffing cred notes into an attractive asari stripper's outfit.

"What, we always go to the Flux. It's time for a change!"

The asari dancer leaned down into Danger and whispered, "You know, I'm done here in twenty minutes. We can ditch your boring friend and take the party elsewhere…"

"Danger, don't you even think about it. Sorry lady, she's busy at the moment. Get your ass over here." Jane grabbed her friend by the arm and pulled her to a booth without a stripper. "What's gotten into you, Danger? You have never wanted to come to this place before."

Danger sighed, downed the rest of her drink and then signaled to a waitress to bring another. "Jane, I'm fine. I don't know what it is with you and Liara that makes you think there is this major issue, but I am telling you, there is no issue whatsoever. So maybe I want to sow a few wild oats. I think I've earned the right to get a little ass after all I have done to help the jackmaroons in this universe."

"Have you heard from Terriana?"

Danger slammed her hand on the table. "Now why in the hell does everyone think that the more you bring her up, the better I will feel? Tell me Jane, if Liara was out bouncing Williams' tits instead of pining for you at my safe house, do you think that it would be beneficial to you for me to bring up her name every five fucking seconds?"

"Geeze, Danger, something in you really has snapped. I have never heard you talk this way before. You really need to call her and just tell her you're in love with her. Get some closure and know one way or the other."

"Calling her is the last thing I need to do. What would that accomplish, anyway? It won't change things. She'll still have that commando, and who knows what is going on there while I'm here. Maybe they've already bonded and got a bun in the oven. Who the fuck cares. No, everything is fine. I'll finish up here, and then head to Omega. I already made the arrangements to get my cars off the planet. They are being picked up next week, and they will be safe and sound back at my garage on Earth in no time. There's nothing left of me there, now."

"Maybe she wants to talk to you."

"Right, because it's so hard to pick up a com herself."

"She might not know how to contact you."

"Jane, she's fucking seven hundred years old. I'm sure she knows how to pick up an Omni-tool and do a search."

Jane sat back against the chair. The mercenary was right, of course. It wasn't like there were very many Darla Vances in the universe that happened to be extraction specialists with a love of cars and wide reputation for being a complete ass. Terriana could find Danger, if she really wanted to find Danger.

Liara was right, as usual. Danger is a wreck, and I'm just making it worse. I wish she had come with us. What in the hell made her think I could handle this alone?

Jane sat back and silently watched as her friend downed another drink, and then another.

"Danger, you need to slow down a bit."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. This isn't going to do any good either. It's just going to get you a punch in the other eye."

Danger grinned. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

"It helps me forget, Jane."

"No it doesn't help you forget Terriana, it helps you forget who you are and do stupid shit like stuff creds down an asari's thong. Gosh Danger, you have no idea where that girl has been. Seriously."

"Well I wasn't going to sleep with her, Jane. Give me a little credit here."

"I don't know, Danger. The last time I went to a bar with you, Liara and I had to drag you out of the waves of asari. I think you intended to bed every one of them."

Danger leaned back in her chair, and looked surprisingly serious. "Jane, I intended no such thing. I just needed to feel wanted. Just a little bit. Do you understand?"

The commander looked at her friend and nodded. "I know, Danger. I know. Hey, what's all this about?"

The waitress had returned and brought them some strange looking orange colored drinks. "Compliments of the lady," she said, gesturing to an attractive asari who looked to be in matriarchal years.

Danger looked at the woman, and nodded. "Maybe she wants a threesome, Jane. You sure you don't want to walk on the wild side?"

"I think I'll take a pass. What is this stuff, anyway?"

"I don't know. One way to find out." Danger upended her drink, and then shrugged and nodded. "It's not bad."

"All right, I'll take your word for it." Jane drank hers, and nodded her agreement. "Ok, yea it's not that bad. But I'm still not going to have a threesome with you and some random matriarch."

Danger grinned. "But Jane, it would be the time of your life!"

"Mm hm, Danger you know they only want you because you are tall and blonde, right? They just want your DNA, they don't want you."

"Why Jane, are you making a pass at me? A few more drinks and we will be in bed with that matriarch! Hell yea!"

The commander rolled her eyes. "Danger, I'm so out of your league it's not even funny."

"You wish." Danger signaled the waitress to bring another round. "So, I see you are making progress with Liara."

"A little and no thanks to you."

"Hey, I had no idea what was going on in there. Next time, just hang a sign on the door or something!"

"Yea, I'll do that."

"So… I guess she's gotten over whatever her hangup was?"

"I don't know, Danger. She wants me to ditch you and go back there tonight. I mean, it seemed like she was suggesting… something… But I'm still not sure."

Danger shook her head and leaned forward, one hand on the table. "Jane, I did have 'the talk' with you, right? I mean, like, you know what goes on, right?"

Jane threw a straw at her friend. "Yes Danger, I know 'what goes on'. Quit being an ass."

"All right all right," she put up her hands defensively. "I'm just checking. It's kind of my responsibility you know."

"Yea, I guess." Jane finished her drink and stretched. "You did a lot for me back then, Danger. Don't think that I forgot it."

Danger grinned, and then shook her head. "Jane?"

"Yea Danger?"

Danger's head dropped, and she snapped it back up again. "I don't… I'm not…"

Jane stared at her friend, who looked to be struggling to keep her head up. She tried to concentrate on Danger's eyes, but her own head was swimming…

"Jane… We're in trouble…"

"Not… sure… what you… what you mean Danger…"

"Shit… We've been drugged."

The tall mercenary's head hit the table just as Jane slumped back in her seat. A small detachment of commandos swiftly moved in, picked the two unconscious humans up, and carried them out the back of the bar.

-Undisclosed location, small room

Commander Jane Shepard awakened and looked at her surroundings. She was shackled to a chair, and the room she was in was damp with sweat and smelled horrible. It was clearly a transport for some sort of trafficking.

"Great. You'd think she would have at least put me in better accommodations. Damn. And I was supposed to see Liara tonight. I'm going to kill her for this." Jane started pulling at the shackles holding her wrists and trying to move her chair.

"I didn't put you here, Jane."

Jane turned her head, a little startled, and saw out of the corner of her eye that Danger was there with her, shackled to her own chair, back to back against her.

"Danger, what the hell?"

"I don't know, Jane. I didn't do this though. My guys weren't going to grab you until tomorrow. I figured you might need a little more time with the Consort or whatever."

"Ok, so if you didn't do this, who did?"

"I have no idea, but we had better worry about who to blame later. I have a feeling these guys are pissed."

"Ok, so what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. They took all my tools. There's one that they didn't get, but I can't reach it at the moment. Shhh, I hear voices."

The two humans listened intently to what sounded like a whispered conversation outside the door. The guards must have noticed they were awake and called in their leader. After a few moments, the entrance opened, and a tall human with a disfigured face walked in.

"Well, looks like someone finally caught the Philadelphia Phantom."

"I should have known. Well hello, big ugly. You've gotten better."

"No, you've gotten sloppy, Vance. A year ago you would have never made a novice mistake like that." He hit her across the face with the butt end of his assault rifle. "A year ago, you were untouchable. Not now. Now, you are mine. I've been tracking you since you came to the Citadel." He hit her again, in the stomach this time.

Danger winced, but she did not cry out. "How did you know I was there?"

"People talk, especially when you are involved, Vance. Good news travels fast. The people you have saved just can't keep their filthy fucking mouths shut, can they?"

"Apparently not. Well, what do you want then?"

"What do I want?" He grinned, revealing rotting teeth, and leaned close to Danger. "I want you to suffer, and suffer you will. Your officer friend here should more than make up for the payday you stole from me, once I ransom her back to the Alliance. As for you, after I've had my fill, I might leave you to your fate on the surface of some planet, but we will have to see how you behave, and what my mood is." He forcefully pressed his lips against hers, and Danger had to fight back the bile.

"Ugh, that was even worse than I always imagined it would be." She turned away from his stench, and he backhanded her. "You're mine, Vance, and I'll be back later. This time, you won't make a fool of me. I think I'll let you consider your situation for a while. Maybe then you will be more… open… to suggestions, after you've thought on your options." He hit her across the face with his rifle one more time, and then walked out the door.

"Them JPs sure know how to hold a grudge, don't they?"

"Are you ok, Danger?"

"Yea, I'm fine Jane. You get used to being smacked around a lot in my line of work. I bet I really look like hell now, though. Gosh, why is it always the face?"

"We need to get out of here."

"Yea. Well, just give me a second. I'm working on it. Any idea how long we have been here?"

"Best guess? A day at the least, two tops. Long enough for someone to have realized something happened. Liara must have gotten suspicious when I didn't come back. Hopefully she told Ash and they are out looking for us now. You had better figure out whatever you are going to figure out faster though. He might change his mind and decide to come in here and slap you around some more."

"If only. Damn it, I really hate having to do this." Danger closed her eyes, and bit her lower lip. "Jane, when we get out of here, promise me that you'll let Tali medigel me."

Jane had no idea what her friend was talking about, but if it made her more likely to find a way out of this repugnant room, she would say anything. "Sure Danger. Tali can medigel you."

If we get out of here…

"Ok. Here we go." Danger turned her head and bit deeply into the shoulderguard on her shirt, leveraged her legs around those of the chair, and then leaned her body to the right and yanked her left hand, hard. Jane heard a bone crunching snap and winced as Danger broke her thumb. Danger didn't cry out, but Jane thought she heard a muffled grunt, and knew her friend had to be in pain. Danger shook her head to clear it, and then forcefully leaned in the other direction, causing more crunching noises. Finally, she was able to pull her hand out of the shackles.

"Damn it, it hurts worse every time I have to do that."

"Danger, you are insane."

"Well I don't see you coming up with any brilliant ideas, Alliance Soldier! Shouldn't you be like turning into the Hulk or something, and using your epic brute strength to break us out of here?"

"Whatever. Ok so you have a broken hand now, and how does that help us?"

"Shut up, Jane, I'm trying to concentrate." Danger slammed her hand against the armrest of the chair again, to push her thumb back into what she hoped would be a close enough location to where it belonged to be able to medigel it later, and reached behind her head to remove her hair fastener. Gripping it with her teeth, she slid out a tiny metal sliver that didn't look like it was very useful for anything.

"One second Jane. He's using these old shackles that came with this model of ship. Stupid ass should have upgraded these." It took her a full ten minutes to free her right hand, since she couldn't manipulate the lockpick as easily as she would have been able to with fully function fingers and she wasn't left-handed, but she managed it in the end and then quickly freed her legs.

"He's a jackass, and I'm still as good as ever. I've just been distracted, is all." Danger stood and got to work on Jane's shackles. "Ok soldier, I got us out of the locks, now how the hell are we going to get off of this ship?"

"Who is he? Do you have any idea how many men he has?"

"He's a real slimeball, and that's all you need to know right now. He was big on human trafficking back in the day, men, women, children, it didn't matter to him. He kidnapped anyone, raped most of them, and then sold them off to the highest bidder. Worthless piece of trash. As far as how many men he has… No clue. Could be a dozen, could be a hundred. Honestly I thought he was dead. I blew his ship up years ago. No idea how he managed to get off it, but worms like him are always slippery. They always seem to have a way out…"

Jane looked around the room for anything they could use. There wasn't much, except the chairs and the shackles that attached through large rings to the floor. This room was meant for prisoners. She could probably channel the platinum and break the chairs apart, but she didn't know how many men were on the ship and Danger wasn't a fighter. The two of them with only clubs would be no match for armed mercenaries.

"There's nothing we can use in here. How's your hand?"

"It will be fine. I've pushed through worse pain than this."

She really would have made a good soldier. It's too bad she didn't join up with me. Then she would have a clue how to fight.

Danger walked over to a corner of the room. "There's a duct here, but I won't be able to get through it. You should be able to fit, though. It'll be tight until it intersects with the main part of the ventilation system." Danger jumped, and locked the fingers of her right hand through the mesh, using her weight to pull the cover back down with her.

Jane went over to where her friend was standing and looked up. "I don't see that we have much of a choice."

"All right. Take your shirt off."

"What?"

"Just do it, Jane. It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Jane had no idea what the mercenary was up to, but she knew better than to argue with Danger when on a job. She took off her shirt and threw it on the ground.

"Don't just throw it there, Jane, and quit flexing your muscles like that. This is totally not the time."

Jane just stared at her blankly.

Danger just grinned idiotically. "Tuck it into the back of your pants or something. You don't want to be running around shirtless on a ship like this, believe me."

"Fine. What are you doing?" She grabbed the shirt from the floor and tucked it into the back of her trousers.

Danger was leaning over and fussing at something at her leg. After a few moments, she stood up and presented a small pouch. "This is going to get you through that duct." She bit off a corner of the pouch, and squeezed out some sort of oil on her hands and started putting it on Jane's shoulders and the side of her arms. "I ain't gonna rub it on your titties so don't even ask," she said with a grin.

"You keep that with you at all times? Seriously? What is wrong with you?"

Danger nodded. "Yup. You never know when you will have to crawl through a ventilation duct, and it's easily overlooked, just like my hair tie. Speaking of which, can you," she turned around and pointed to her wild hair.

"Why do you keep it so long, Danger?"

"What, you prefer the crew cut look? No thanks. Just tie it back and quit giving me a hard time already!"

Jane took the circular clip back from Danger and fastened the human's hair again.

"Thanks Jane. You have no idea how hard that is to do with only one thumb. All right, up you go. Now, it's going to immediately curve around, so keep your arms below you and just squeeze through as best you can. It will open up again after it gets more deeply into the ship's bowels. You are going to be on your own up there, Jane. There's no way I will fit through that duct – it's going to be tight enough for just you as it is. Here, take the rest of this oil, in case you need it at another duct."

Jane reluctantly accepted the pouch, and tried her best to fold it neatly and stow it in a pocket. It was a greasy mess, and she tried not to think of what kind of oil it was.

Probably engine oil or something like that. I hope it's not... used... oil...

"Are you sure this stuff isn't toxic, Danger?"

The mercenary looked at her friend. "You'll be fine, Jane. It's not baby oil, but it won't burn your skin off. Just get up there!"

Jane gave her the thumbs up, and the mercenary knelt down and connected her hands to give Jane a boost into the duct. The tall human easily pushed Jane into the shaft, and the commander wriggled into the duct and around the corner. After a while, she found Danger was right, and the duct expanded until it was high enough that she could turn around and poke her face back across the opening.

"Ok, so now what am I supposed to do?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Jane. You're the sailor; don't you know how these things are built?"

"I know my way around the parts of the ship you are actually supposed to travel, Danger, not the air shafts."

"Well, you don't have to worry too much about them turning on the climate control, if we are in orbit somewhere. My guess is we are near Omega. That bitch ruler tends to let scum like this hang about, as long as they don't start trouble. You'll be safe for as long as they think we are still in here. You aren't going to have much time though. I'll sit in the chair and make like we're being good little prisoners, but sooner or later one of them is going to come in here to taste the wares..."

"All right Danger. I'll see if I can get us some weapons. Just hang tight and try not to... Do anything stupid."

"Good luck, Jane." Danger did her best impression of an Alliance salute, and turned to take her place back at the chairs.

"Yea, good luck, Danger," Jane whispered, before backing up and turning around in the shaft once more. Jane had done jobs with Danger before, but they were always on the outside getting in. This time, they were on the inside, and had to get out. This time, the tables had turned.