Chapter Five

Five Seconds: Crime and Prejudice

Authors Note: I'd like to thank those that have added my story to their favorites and story alerts, also to those that send reviews! As I say before, please forgive grammar flubs I've just updated this after someone pointed out I said pragia not purgatory, I keep getting those mixed up, whoopsie!, they are my fault, and I own nothing in the Mass Effect series, it belongs to Bioware and EA.

"You sure he can handle it Commander?" Garrus asked her as they got out of the vehicle that brought them from the Normandy to the security check in area.

She had Joker drop her and Garrus off at the Citadel so that she could visit Anderson and the council, but there was also a few other items on her list. One of the few good things about Cerberus is that they were willing to pay for anything she needed, or wanted, amongst her own credits and she planned on buying upgrades and some real food for the crew, not to mention some brandy for Dr. Chakwas. There was one thing that she could do first before all of that though, looking over at the advertisement pillar that she was told to go to make contact with the master thief Kasumi Goto. "If I didn't think Colonel Daemon wouldn't be able to handle it I wouldn't have put him in charge," She replied as she walked towards the pillar, "Besides," She added, "I want to see if we can surprise him with a piano in his room."

She had kept her promise and had gone to talk to Garrus after she talked with the Colonel. After hearing the story of how Garrus got into that predicament on Omega she told him Kellys' concern and what she heard from the Colonel. Whether it was a sense of brothers in arms or from the Colonel saving his life, the turian agreed that something had to be done to give the Ranger a hand. "Trouble is…" Garrus had to point out, "Where are we going to find one? A real piano I heard is few and far between."

"I will bet you there will be some in an antique store," She challenged as they reached the advertisement pillar.

At first nothing happened until a hooded face appeared on the screen, she couldn't see her eyes well beneath the hood, but her lips were easy to see, marked with a purple color, her Japanese accented voice coming out from the speaker saying cheerfully, "Commander Shepard, please put in your password and receive a free gift!"

She'd considered not playing along, but she figured why not? "Silence is golden," She said the code to the screen.

To her relief the thief didn't play it out for long as she said, "Commander Shepard, Kasumi Goto at your service, I'm a fan."

She decided to get right down to business instead of making idle chat, "I assume Cerberus filled you in on the mission?" She asked. Glancing over her shoulder she could see Garrus looking around as if he thought that she was hiding somewhere nearby.

"Honestly I'm shocked they didn't come to see me sooner," Kasumi replied, "my fault for being so hard to find I guess."

"Well she certainly doesn't lack in confidence," She thought before she asked, "I take it you like it that way?"

"Exactly," She answered, "I'm the best in the business, not the most famous, for a reason."

She did the same as she did with Zaeed, asking about her history with Cerberus, and as with Zaeed Kasumi had made a deal with Cerberus if they helped her with a heist to steal a greybox from a man named Donovan Hock. "So what is the time limit on this?" She asked curious.

"It's due to happen in the upcoming month," the thief answered, "I will fill you in on the details as we get closer to the date."

Shepard looked down in thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "We'll get that for you," She promised with a smile, "If that's all we'll see you on the Normandy."

"Actually I couldn't help but hear you're looking for a piano for a Colonel?" She suddenly asked with a curious gleam in her eyes.

She stared at the screen before she looked around for a moment herself before looking back at the woman and said hesitantly, "…Yes…"

"Is he cute?" Was the sudden yet more human voice coming from above them on a walkway.

Shepard lifted her head up, finally finding her hiding spot amongst the darkness, she shrugged her shoulders answering, "He's attractive yes."

"Don't worry about the piano then," the thief said before she walked off saying, "See you on the ship Shepard!"

"Why do I feel like the Colonel just got an admirer?" Garrus asked as he moved to stand next to her, his eyes stuck between half amusement and half concern.

"Well maybe it would help to have someone help bring him out a bit?" She suggested, "A cute woman has a way of getting people to talk."

"Maybe," Garrus admitted, "that's if he comes back from that pick up alright."

"It's just a simple pick up and go job Garrus," She reassured him before saying something she shouldn't have, "What can go wrong?"

Meanwhile on the Purgatory…

"Simple pick up she said," He thought in his head as he ducked behind a desk as bullets whizzed over his head. Leaning out he fired at an armored Blue Sun merc, sending him onto his knee as a bullet punched through, Zaeed standing up to put a bullet through the kneeling mans' head, sending him to the ground in a spurt of blood. Daemon got up from behind the table, walking over to the door carefully, Miranda following right behind him from the sound of her heels. Just moments before he thought they'd just pick up this apparently psychotic biotic criminal named Jack and take him back to the Normandy. However, the prison owner had other ideas that involved taking them hostage as bait for Shepard.

"It's a good thing ya kept them from taking our weapons," Zaeed spat on the corpse of the alien as he looked down the hall, "Looks clear for now."

"We should forget the convict and get out of here," Miranda suggested, from the beginning of this trip she wasn't too keen on taking a criminal out of jail.

Before he could say 'yay' or 'nay' to that idea EDI piped in, "The doors you came through originally are locked, and the cryostasis container they are holding Jack in is just in the next room down the tunnel."

He reached up touching his camouflaged visor as the map appeared on the screen, nodding slightly as he said, "Thanks EDI," looking over at Miranda he shrugged his shoulders as he reasoned "Both of our goals are through that door, let's do what we came to do."

She gave a resigned nod "Very well Colonel," she said with slight hesitation.

He had a feeling she'd rather be leading them then he, he didn't bother saying anything about it only if it became a problem. "Let's go then," he said walking down the tunnel, about to take a left before he stopped, pressing against the metal corner, raising his rifle he poked his head around before pulling back as a rush of bullets whizzed past him. He pointed at Zaeed and then making a tossing motion with his hand.

The bounty hunter under stood, pulling out a grenade he pulled the pin with his teeth, holding it in his hand to let it cook before tossing it around the corner. After a cry and an expected explosion the group came out from the corner opening fire on the remaining men standing, taking them down easily. "These guards kept the galaxies worst in line?" He asked with contempt as he looked down at the bloody corpses.

"It's easy when they don't have weapons," Miranda responded as she stepped over a body before she looked over at Daemon, "I take it you haven't been practicing."

"I've gotten this far without biotics," He shrugged his shoulders, "why use them now?" Though to be honest he had made one or two attempts at it and found he couldn't control it very well. Lifting objects bigger than a ball was beyond him and he wasn't about to ask Miranda or Jacob to help, not wanting to get close to anyone. Before she could say anything he just continued forward, hefting up his Vindicator rifle as he approached the door.

As the door opened he saw a glowing orange control panel in front of a wide window, what looked to be a container down below. Zaeed came up next to him as he looked at the controls saying "Looks like if you open this you open all the cells on this sector."

"…Who the hell came up with that system?" Daemon wondered out loud before he just shook his head. "I'm releasing Jack be ready," He ordered as he held up his omni-tool, having gotten a bit better at it he was able to activate the console. The container on the lower level hissed as steam rushed out of the slowly opening metal hatch. He could see large robot like machines stomping up towards it before they stopped. He wondered how they were going to get past those monsters when the doors finally opened up wide, smoke clearing until he could finally see….Jack?

When he first heard about the convict Jack he had a rather simple image: Male, bald, tattoos, and in the shape of a body builder like he saw on T.V. It turns out he was right in two areas, just not correct in the gender or body shape. Who Jack was turned out to be a woman with a slim build, he guessed he was a bit more sexist then he thought.

Miranda seemed to have expected something else as well too as she asked hesitantly, "That's…Jack?"

As if the convict heard her eyes opened, getting her bearings rather quickly as she tore off the metal bindings that held her down. The robots seemed to have not liked that as their weapons started to activate. He wondered if their freeing of Jack would result in her being killed off so quickly when she suddenly grew a fierce scowl on her face, her body practically bursting with the blue color of biotics before she disappeared beneath the window as she charged the machines.

"We've got to get down there she needs help," he decided quickly, running to the other door as he and the team followed behind him, the sound of explosions rocking them for a moment before he burst out of the bottom door expecting a battle for survival when he got a shock.

The three large mechs were nothing but scrap metal. The large wall in front of them was sporting a gaping hole large enough for the scrapped machines to walk through if they could still. "Bloody hell…" Zaeed murmured, voicing his very thoughts.

"You sure we should still take her with?" Miranda asked with a slight sarcastic tone.

"If she's going our way then yes," He answered before he raised his rifle hoping he hadn't made a mistake as he said, "come on."

As they went through the hole he could see how everything had gone to hell, alarms were blaring, the lights had turned red and flashing and gun fire filled the air. Amongst the confusion of inmates and guards fighting each other it was easy for them to pick their way through without much trouble. Until they ran into a large mech that didn't seem to care who it shot. They were forced to bunker down behind a large barrier of metal as it fired on them.

"Never stays easy does it?" Zaeed grunted as he leaned out, taking a few pot shots at the machine, wearing its shields down a bit before he ducked back behind the barrier.

"Over loading its shields!" Miranda shouted as she suddenly started to lean her head out to take a shot.

It was then that Daemon got that tingle in the back of his head, his hand suddenly lunging out, not having enough seconds to be gentle he grabbed her by the hair, wrenching her face back as a rocket whizzed right where her face would have been. The explosion as it hit the ground pelting them with a small spray of rubble as he exhaled in relief.

"You alright?" he asked as he looked at the Cerberus operative, having let go of her head after he pulled back.

She looked stunned and a bit pained but she just shakily nodded her head at her near death experience.

Zaeed had taken the time to look over at them it seemed as he shouted, "This ain' the time to lose your head sweetheart!"

Daemon would rather let her get back her bearings before pushing her back into action, but she seemed to pull herself together after that. He just nodded his head at her before he took a deep breath, pulling out the grenade launcher he was given from Shepard since she believed, "Team leaders carry big ass weapons." Well he certainly wasn't about to argue that now as he jumped out from behind cover, firing a grenade at the machine. Thanks to Zaeed the mechs shields had been taken out and took severe damage from the explosion. Taking the explosion as a cue both Miranda and the bounty hunter popped out of hiding, grenades and biotics flying before the robot exploded into bits and pieces.

"Good work," He complimented the two as he hefted the grenade launcher in his grasp as he walked forward, "Let's keep going, we got an angry woman to find."

She could only keep running, dodging bullets and blasting the idiot guards with her biotics. Her arms and legs pumped as she ran towards the last two guards in her way, suddenly slipping into a slide as bullets whizzed over her head before she let out a shockwave of biotics, tearing through them before they fell to the ground still. She had to stop, her lungs burning from the exertion, she looked out the window, seeing a ship that she could possibly hijack until she caught the symbol that she loathed from the day she was born.

"Cerberus", She hissed,a wave of rage rushing through her veins as she couldn't help but shot and scream at the symbol. So fixated on it she didn't hear the guard coming up with his gun raised until the sound of a gunshot and a groan, her head jerking to the right to see the guard dropping before she looked to the left, seeing a man with black hair in camouflage green armor with a pistol in his hand before he lowered it. Her brown eyes staring at him before she drew her lips back, baring her teeth as she cursed, "What the hell do you want?" Giving him her most fierce glare she had.

He couldn't help but look into her brown eyes when she looked at him. At first glance someone would only see the anger, the hate that she gave out from every pore of her body. However, when he looked deeper he saw a glimpse of what was hiding behind the rage: sadness, pain, loss. He knew what he saw, because he looked into the reflection of his face in the window at night and saw the same thing.

"My name is Colonel Daemon Heraldson, and I'm here to get you outta here," He answered, rising his hand up to his visor, pulling it off as it flipped closed.

He watched as she walked back and forth, a soft 'pft' leaving her lips before she said, "Shit you sound like a pussy."

He heard a chuckle come from his left; Zaeed liked this one he imagined.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," She leered as she pointed to the ship at the symbol, "You're with Cerberus."

His eyes looked where she pointed before he looked back to her saying, "I'm here to ask for your help Jack."

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate and expect me to come with you?" She asked as if she was talking to a dumbass. "How stupid do you think I am?" she spat as she started to pace again.

"Which question do we answer first?" Miranda asked as she took a step forward, she was the only one that didn't put away her weapon.

He jerked his head around to look at her, "First, shut up Miss. Lawson, secondly put that away," He ordered. Looking back over to Jack he reasoned with her, "This thing is going down, we can get you to safety and we're asking for your help."

"Or just knock her out," Miranda suggested 'helpfully'.

"I'd like to see you try bitch," She crouched down slightly, a blue shimmer of biotics starting to form.

"No one is attacking her," He said firmly, wondering why in the world Lawson was trying to make this so difficult.

"Smart move," Jack approved before she relaxed, taking a step forward as she leaned in, "You want me to come with? Make it worth my while."

"Join the team and I'll make sure to do what I can to get what you want," He promised as he took a few steps towards her.

She didn't seem very convinced, "Don't make promises you can't keep," she warned. "I bet your ship has lots of Cerberus files," She guessed, "I want to look at those files and see what Cerberus has on me."

Daemon was close enough now to see the tattoos clearer, it was easy when she only wore a piece of string on her chest, but he never looked down there directly, he was more respectful then that. "I'll get you full access," He promised.

"You can't authorize that Colonel," Miranda objected, a sound of anger growing in her voice.

He turned around to look at the raven haired woman, "I can't," he admitted, "but the Commander can, and I think she likes me more than you Lawson."

He could see her practically seething before he turned his back on her, looking over at Jack who seemed to be enjoying the pissed off look on the Operatives face. She seemed to decide it was time to get back to business, "You better be able to do what you say," she threatened. After he nodded his head slowly she looked away saying, "So what the hell are we still standing here for?" leading the way herself to the ship.

Back on the Citadel…

"That could have gone better," Garrus sighed as they flew back to the Zakera Ward after their meeting with the council.

"Well at least I got my Spectre status back," She said with a shrug of her shoulders. After shopping for upgrades and supplies she finally met with Anderson and the council. It was hard to be nice to them after sweeping everything she had said under the rug as if saving their lives meant nothing. Instead of helping they showed their 'support' by reinstating her Spectre status and the 'helpful' advice to stay in the Terminus System while Cerberus was on her ass. When the council departed to do…whatever they did she was able to have a chat with Anderson about what happened the past two years. One of the first things she asked about was Kaiden, where he was, how he was. She was disappointed that Anderson couldn't tell her anything because of her Cerberus tail. However, she was glad to hear that Anderson never gave up in trying to convince the council about the threat of the Reapers. She departed giving him a hug and a promise that she'd get away from Cerberus as fast as she could.

"It's a small silver line considering what you did for them," Garrus grumbled as they climbed out of the vehicle, standing near the console.

"I'll take what I can get from them," She said as she raised her hand to her ear speaking into her communicator, "Joker, you nearby?"

"Just about to settle in Commander," Jokers voice came in loud and clear, "You might want to get on the Normandy before we explode from the inside out."

"Why what's going on?" She asked, her fingers already slipping into a vehicle to get back to the ship.

"We got an angry biotic woman on board and she's looking to tear Miranda a new one," He responded, she could almost picture him looking over his shoulder just waiting for the explosion of biotics to start.

"This should be interesting," Garrus said as they went on their way to the ship.

She came into the comm room just as Miranda was saying, "I'm Shepard's second-in-command, and on this ship we follow orders."

She looked over to where Miranda was looking and finally got to see Jack. The woman was covered in tattoos from the waist up, and the only thing she wore to cover herself was practically leather thongs that wrapped around her neck and chest covering barely anything. The scars that marked her body suggested that she had a rough life, and her eyes said the same thing.

"Daemon, tell the Cheerleader to back off, I'm here because of our deal," The convict said as she looked over at the armored Colonel.

"I don't take orders from him," Miranda said sharply as she leaned forward, eyes narrowing.

"We'll see about that," Shepard finally jumped in, letting her presence be known as she walked over to the table, standing between Miranda and Jack as she looked over at the pale woman, "but for now you do take orders from me, now relax." She looked over at Jack, holding her hand out, "I'm Commander Shepard, it's a pleasure to meet you Jack."

She just watched as Jack crossed her arms, not shaking her hand, "I'm told you can give me access to the Cerberus files they have on me, you want my help? Get me those files, that was our deal," she pointed over to the Colonel and then back at herself.

Miranda shook her head as she looked over at her, "Shepard those files-"

"Are hers," Shepard interrupted, as she looked over at Miranda, "Give her full access."

"You hear that precious?" Jack leered as she leaned forward, "We're going to be the best of friends, you me and every dirty little secret." She walked towards the door saying, "I'll be reading down in the hold or somewhere near the bottom, I don't like a lot of traffic." She looked over at the Colonel for a moment, almost doing a double take before she walked out of the room.

Miranda looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just left the room, leaving her and the Colonel alone. "I take it the pickup didn't go so well," She guessed.

The Colonel shrugged his shoulders, "They tried to get us to give up our weapons and surrender to be used as bait." A small twitch came to his mouth as he said, "Surrender isn't a Ranger word."

"Guess we got something in common then," She said with a smile before she turned to leave, "good work Colonel."

He gave her a salute in response before he asked, "I assume it went well on your end?"

She stopped before the door before she looked at him responding, "Not as well as I'd like, but it could have been worse…plus we got a new recruit while we were there, her name is Kasumi Goto, I'm not sure where she set up, but you should try and introduce yourself when you get the chance." She couldn't help but turn the smile to mischievous as she left.

He didn't like the look on her face as she left the room, it made him nervous. "I guess I'll just find out when I find out," He thought to himself as he left the room. After he dropped off his armor at the armor he took the elevator down to the crew deck. He slipped into showers, pulling off the sweat covered clothing before he washed off, his mind going back to Jack. When they first met he saw the look of loss and pain in her eyes, and that moment in the comm room she had saw it in him, as best as he tried to hide it she caught it at that last moment.

He took a deep breath, trying to dispel her from his head, but without any progress, he finally gave in and dried off with the towels they kept in a dispenser in the bathroom, drying off as he picked up his dirty cloths, placing them in the laundry chute. He looked out of the bathroom for signs of anyone before he slipped into his room where he got the second shock of the day.

What used to be a simple room with a couch, bed, desk, and terminal had been turned into two beds, a painting on the wall, a shelf full of books, a bar fully stocked to his right, a strange white orb in the corner and a…piano in front of the window. He moved into the room stunned as he guessed this was what Shepard was smiling about. His hands reaching out to the piano, his fingertips brushing over the ivory keys, lightly pressing down as a clear note came out, his ear catching it, "Needs to be tuned," He said out loud in thought.

"Good ear," A feminine voice came up behind him, a hint of a Japanese accent, "I take it you are the Colonel."

He turned around; making sure his towel was still on when he saw her right behind him. He could just make out her eyes from behind the hood; her lips were easily seen though, smiling with the purple markings on her bottom lip. "I am…you are…Kasumi Goto?"

"Oh Shepard told you? Keeps things simple then!" The woman said happily as she clapped her hands together. He could almost feel her looking him over.

"I'm sorry but…what are you doing here?" He asked as he carefully stepped around her, almost cautiously as if she would bite him.

"Oh didn't Shepard tell you?" She said a bit curiously as she tilted her head to the side.

"Tell me what?" He asked he was starting to understand why there was a second bed in his room.

"I'm your new roommate!" She said happily.

And so ends with the Fifth Chapter of this story, tell me what you think about it, does Kasumi sharing the room with the Colonel seem too much? Please review!