Five Seconds

Chapter 11: The Praying Mantis

Authors Note: I apologize for how long it took for me to get this finished up, I allowed myself to get distracted. I'll try to do better, but for now? Back to the action! I do not own anything in the Mass Effect series, it's owned by Bioware and EA.

He hurt, not in just one spot, but everywhere, as if someone had pummeled him with sledgehammers. There was something muffled in the background…screaming? Who was screaming? Suddenly it came back to him, his eyes opening to the nightmare unfolding in front of him. The men's backs were to him, to focused on their prey, her screams only bringing laughter to them as they tore at her clothes. He had felt anger before, after years of bullying, but this…this was a something altogether different…He had to protect her…but how? His eyes caught the gleam of silver near him. The revolver. The bastard must have dropped it. His arm reached for it weakly, his blurred vision making it difficult to grasp it before his fingers wrapped around the handle. His eyes clearing as he looked at it, he had never handled a gun before, he hated guns, but he knew how this one worked from the movies. He slowly raised his arm up, his breathing quickening, his chest on fire; he must have a broken rib or multiple. Looking down the sight of the barrel he pointed at one of the men, the one that he hated most. His finger trembles at the trigger, could he do it? Could he kill a man in anger? To protect her? He prayed for forgiveness as he pulled back the hammer…his finger pressing against the trigger.

His eyes snapped open as he suddenly drew in a deep breath of air. He raised his hand to his forehead, pulling back to see it slick with sweat, or perhaps it was already there to begin with. His head turned towards the window, seeing the stars outside. At times he expected to wake up, turn to see the sun shining in through the window and be back in his old bed. Instead he stared out at the huge expanse of the galaxy, so many people out there, human and alien, yet at times he felt as if he was alone in the universe.

After a moment he started to feel as if someone was looking at him, turning his head towards the bar he saw Jack sitting alone at the bar, an uncorked bottle of alcohol by her elbow. Her head turned away from him.

"How long have you been sitting there?" He asked, slowly slipping out of bed, pulling on a button up shirt to cover himself as he moved to sit down next to her at the bar.

"Long enough to finish one bottle," she said, bringing the bottle to her lips, taking a sip from it as she slapped it back down onto the counter.

"I spoke with the Commander, about your…problem," he said, clasping his hands together as he rested them on the counter.

"Well don't keep me fucking waiting," Jack said as she looked at him with intensity in her brown eyes.

He couldn't help but be caught in her intensity, looking into her eyes before he blinked, "Shepard got piled on with problems from the other the other crew, but she'll bring you to Pragia."

"…Thanks," she said as she bowed her head down, again it sounded as if she was unused to saying that word.

He just nodded at her as he turned his head to look out at the stars "My internal clock has been messed up since I came on this ship…I don't know whether it's day or night."

"Where we are now it's day time," she said as she looked at him with a perked brow, "You've been on a fucking ship before haven't you?"

His mouth opened just a little bit, he had not told her anything about his past, didn't want to, to be honest Shepard telling the other crew about his past bothered him. To be fair the others should know about his limitations, but the more people that knew…the more chance of attention being drawn to him from other people than just Cerberus. However, that wasn't the reason he didn't want to tell her. A part of him was afraid that if she knew, she wouldn't look at him the same way that she did now. He didn't want to lie to her either, he knew from some of her recounts of people she met that trust was a fragile thing with her, and once it shattered, you'd better get out of the way before she reached you.

Luckily for him before he could get a word out the door opened, Shepard walking in already in her armor. He was about to get up to salute her before she held her hand up, stopping him in mid motion. "At ease Colonel," she said before she brushed some imaginative thing off her shoulder, "We're going to go pick up our assassin, in the mean time I have a job for you and Tali to do."

"What do you need us to do?" He asked, wondering why it involved just him and Tali.

"You and Tali are going to help Liara find someone named the Observer, she has it narrowed down to five individuals, a batarian, a turian, a krogan, a salarian, and a vorcha." She replied, from the look on her face this wasn't something that she was happy about.

"And bring them in," He said, assuming that that was the case.

He watched as she bit her lip in hesitation, he started to get a bad feeling and it was confirmed when she said, "She's going to kill them."

He shifted some in his seat uncomfortably, looking over at Jack for a moment who was watching both of them curiously. When the time for battle came up he would pick up his gun and fight as a soldier. However, this wasn't more of a battle then assisting in an assassination or execution of someone that could be more or less defenseless.

Shepard must have seen the hesitation in his eyes, "I'm not happy about it either," she said, "but she's going to do it whether we help or not, and I'd rather she killed the right person, not the wrong one."

He had to assume that Shepard wouldn't have asked him if this was an innocent person he had to find, she didn't seem like the kind to harm innocents. He slowly nodded his head "If that's what you need us to do Commander…we'll do it."

"Thank you…" She said with a sigh, "We'll set out in less than an hour; you won't need to suit up for this one." As she turned and left he couldn't help but feel it was a walk of…shame?

"What the fuck is her issue?" Jack wondered out loud, her hand reaching for the bottle of booze once more.

His hand slipped over, grasping the bottle to pull it away from her as her hand over laid his. The feel of her hand on his sent a tingle down his spine as his head turned to look at her as she whipped around to look at him. Silence ensued for a moment before she jerked her head to look away before he slowly drew his hand, and bottle, away from her "I don't she expected her friend to have a dark side," he said.

"That's her being fuckin' naïve then," Jack said as she suddenly slipped out of the stool, moving towards the door, leaving him alone before he could get a single word out.

He just side as he pressed his hands against either side of the bottle, pressing his forehead against the top. His hand still tingling with the sensation of her hand on his, and for the briefest moment, he didn't feel so alone in the universe.

He never could find the 'first bottle' she went through before he woke up.

She kept rubbing her palms together as she left Daemons room, more flustered, pissed off, whatever she was then when she went into that damned room. She thought that she could just go up into his room, grab a few bottles, go back down stairs and get completely shit faced instead of thinking of that hell hole that was the first part of her life. Instead she ended up just…sitting there like some weird creeper from the vids watching him sleep. At the start he looked peaceful, the hidden burdens he kept to himself were just gone and she couldn't help but feel some type of calmness fill her watching his muscled chest rise up and down. Then he started to turn. At first she thought he was waking up, but then it seemed like what she imagined she did when she found some way to sleep, tossing and turning as she tried to fight off the shadows of her past before they inevitably won, causing her to wake up in a mess of tears and sweat. When his eyes opened she saw brightness in his eyes as if relieved that his nightmare was over, but when he looked at the window a look of disappointment and burdens piled onto him and those brilliant green eyes turned dark.

She walked into the elevator, slumping back against the cold metal as she looked down at her hand before she suddenly kicked at the elevator panel to take her to…wherever the fuck she hit out of pure frustration. Just when she thought she had calmed down, she had to touch his fucking hand. It made her blush. Her blush, a badass that had to be cryogenically frozen in stasis to keep from destroying an entire prison facility and touching some guys hand made her cheeks blush like some school girl. It confused her, and what confused her, pissed her off. "You're not going through this…" She said as she hit the back of her head against the wall, "not fucking again." The last time she started to blush, to start feeling…confused, was back with him, that bastard that had to go get himself killed for her. "I didn't ask you to die for me you fucker!" She shouted in her head before she just slid down onto her ass, curling up into a ball, staring at her hands.

The elevator door dinged revealing not the engineer deck, but the CIC level. She quickly got up and brushed herself off before that 'loving' red head secretary came up to her saying "Good afternoon Jack, joining the Commander on her recruitment?"

She stared at the woman for a moment before she could slip back into her pissed off mood, "No I'm joining fucking green eyes and the bubble head," she snapped before she started to walk towards the armory as if she was going to gear up leaving Kelly to just stare after in a confused state.

Two Hours later…

Shepard sat staring out a car window as their contact; an asari that used to work for Nassana brought them to the partially built second tower of the 'Dantius Towers'. After spending a few minutes asking about the lay out and possible opponents she slipped into darker thoughts, mostly about Liara.

"Shepard what's wrong?" Garrus asked from the back seat, leaning forward grasping the corner of her chair.

She didn't bother trying to hide it from him, Garrus had a way of telling when she was upset or not. "I wonder if it was wrong of me to not help Liara to find her 'Observer'" she admitted, looking over her shoulder at the turian. Mordin was being surprisingly silent for a change, not injecting into the conversation, but she had a feeling that that computer like brain of his was studying them with that innocent look on his face.

"You are helping her, by having Tali and the Colonel find the Observer," Garrus said.

"More like being a coward…I just couldn't handle seeing Liara like she is…so dark…so…obsessed, what happened to the Liara we used to know?" She asked, glancing back out the window, seeing the towers coming into view.

"Two years is a long time Shepard, whatever this Broker did to her must have been bad if she is so intent on him," he said.

"What about you Garrus?" She asked, turning her head back to him, "Did what happen to Sidonis change you?"

Garrus stayed silent at that, leaning back into his chair as his mandibles twitched some as if in thought, "I don't know," he said, repeating himself from the first time they talked about this.

Shepard looked at him for a long moment, Garrus was one of the few people she trusted in this galaxy, her sanctuary in a place where things were not what they used to be. If she lost that, if she lost the Garrus she knew…she didn't know if she would be able to keep on fighting. She felt the vehicle shift as it landed on the platform, door opening with a hiss, she closed her eyes for a moment, focusing in before she grasped her rifle, "Let's do this," she said.

Daemon was starting to wonder if he was being followed, or just getting paranoid. From the moment he stepped onto Illium he felt as if there were eyes boring holes in the back of his head. Leaning against a terminal watching the mixture of asari and other aliens walking past, to his chagrin when he felt as if he was being watched he remembered one reason he didn't like Illium. And that was the chance of him being abducted to be turned into asari gumbo. He had forgotten it after the accident with the calamari gumbo, more than likely suppressing it to ignore the fact he had eaten then threw up a human being. The fact that Gardener had cooked it, and that Shepard and Joker ate it just confirmed to him that in one hundred seventy years, humans didn't care what they ate as long as it tasted good. The thought made him almost turn as green as the leather jacket he wore, unzipped. While Shepard said there was no need to gear up, he had picked up a pistol on the way out, resting in a holster connected to his belt.

The only two other comforts he had was Tali hacking away at the terminal near him, and Jack, who seemed to have chosen to come on her on accord, leaning on the same terminal he was on to his left. He wouldn't deny that he missed her presence the first time he explored Illium, and especially after finding out about the asari's darker secrets from Joker.

"What are Rangers?" Jack suddenly asked.

"Huh?" He asked rather stupidly, looking over at her.

She just perked her brow up at him, pointing at the Ranger tab stitched to his left shoulder, the look on her face making him feel rather stupid.

"It was…a group I was part of, government owned," He said, not lying, but not exactly saying everything.

"Never heard of them in Alliance space," She said, giving him a curious glance.

He pressed his lips together in thought, wondering if he could keep avoiding her questions enough to satisfy her. Again luck was on his side though, since Tali called out, "I got it."

He joined the quarian at her terminal, standing next to her as he read the bit of a message. It read: "…trader tried to kill the batarian. Claims it was because he hates slavers, but the men were more likely fighting over money. Watch for now…"

"Not much to go on," He said after reading it, letting Tali upload it onto her omni-tool, since he hadn't mastered that yet.

"I'd just fucking kill all of them," Jack said crossing her arms, "insurance that you got the right one."

"I doubt they all meet up in one place for that to even happen Jack and we're trying to avoid a lot of bloodshed," Tali said as she closed the screen.

"Let's just keep looking," Daemon said, heading to their next data point hoping to avoid any more pokes into his past from Jack.

Shepard was starting to see the evil the Eclipse were capable of as they worked their way through the tower. After clearing the first area they ran into a wounded salarian that told them how Nassana had the mercs 'remove' the workers presence from the building, sending mechs and dogs on them, killing without remorse. She slathered medi-gel over the wound to help sustain him until help arrived, of course Mordin couldn't help but give his own medical advice along with her attentions. Motivated more than ever to reach Nassana and find the assassin they moved quickly through the tower, dropping any merc that was dumb enough to get in her way. They moved up a ramp, the door opening before them as she heard the echo of voices coming from a vent above.

"I think he went in there," a male voice said.

"Well go get him," a female voice ordered.

"You go," the male voice said, indignant.

"Just get your ass in there," the woman said annoyed, "Nassana isn't paying you to screw around."

"Fine," the man said, "But I—"

The man's voice was suddenly cut off by the sound of grunts, and sounds of fists smacking against something hard. Silence ensued before a man came crashing down the vent, dead in front of them.

"Well at least we know the assassin is nearby," Garrus said.

Mordin had gone over to the body, bending down as he scanned it with his omni-tool, looking at the screen, "Broken neck, no signs of self-defense, quick and professional, assassin skilled in hand-to-hand combat."

"Enough chatter," She said, hefting up her rifle "let's see if we can catch up to him before Nassana's mercs do."

"This is more like it," Jack said as Daemon and her sat at the bar counter in the 'Eternity' club. Not as dark and pulsing with malice as Omega, but they still seemed to be able to fit in an asari dancer or two.

Tali stood a bit behind them, working on hacking a terminal as discreetly as possible, Daemon sitting in a spot just blocking the bartenders view. "You like clubs then I take it," He said.

"This is more of a bar then anything with an asari hooker or two forced in to draw the poor bastards in," Jack said, "but I haven't had the chance to dance to some catchy beat in a while, being locked in a fucking ice cube has a way of hindering that."

"Draw the poor bastards in eh…?" He thought to himself, maybe that's why there were so many asari dancers, lead a man away for a bit, then wham take them away for mating season or calamari gumbo…tricky. "I used to know how to dance," He said, glancing over his shoulder just slightly to see how Tali was progressing before looking back over at Jack.

"Really," she said sounding half interested, half uninterested, "Maybe we'll see if you remember anything one of these days," her face turning away from his as she said that.

He stared at the back of her head for a long moment, was that an offer to dance with her? "I would like that," he said.

Jack said nothing to that, staying silent before she glanced over her shoulder, jerking her head to the side before slipping off the bar stool.

His eyes followed her, seeing that Tali was no longer there. Standing up he followed after her, finding Tali standing outside of the bar. "What did we get this time?" He asked.

"Got a complete sentences this time at least," Tali said, holding up her omni-tool, a screen appearing as words filled in the orange space, reading: "Smuggler and assassin have refused to work with vorcha due to lack of trust. Odd to see scruples from the men at this point."

"Still nothing on who the Observer is…" He murmured. He remembered back in highschool his math teacher giving them little brain teasers that involved either five or more people, and you had to figure out either who was the oldest and what they did or so on and so forth. In the end you had to use small hints to figure out who was which, using process of elimination. So far he wasn't able to select which one had the Observer occupation, but he was able to figure out the vorcha wasn't the observer, nor was the smuggler or assassin, but neither was the vorcha either occupation. It was a start. For a moment he felt those eyes bearing down on him again, unfriendly eyes…he was starting to feel that he wasn't being paranoid, "Let's just head to the next data point…" he nodded his head for Tali to lead them to the next point.

"Come to mama," Shepard said as she bent down, picking up what seemed to be a discarded sniper rifle, different from what their armory had right now.

"That's an S-97b Viper sniper rifle," Garrus said, "It allows more shots before you have to reload, but it doesn't have the same kick I like with the Mantis."

"With a few upgrades it could have something close to it though," Shepard said, scanning it for its parts and blue prints, setting it in her now empty sniper rifle holster. Looking down at the Mantis rifle in her hand she set it down, stomping on it hard bending the barrel to a point of uselessness if she was going to drop a gun, might as well make it so no one else could use it.

"The horror…" He gasped, hugging his own Mantis rifle to his chest as one hand raised up dramatically to his forehead as if he was about to faint in one of those old vids.

"I'll make it up to you," She said, walking past him, comfortingly patting his shoulder.

"Shepard, elevator is descending," Mordin said, pointing over at the elevator, "Chance of enemy forces high."

"Get behind cover," She ordered, "Garrus, concussive round, knock them on their ass, Mordin, use your incinerate to cook them, then open fire."

Everyone got into place, Shepard taking the container closest to the door, holding her rifle up as she waited….and waited. Before the door suddenly 'dinged' opening to reveal two troopers and a krogan, until they were knocked back, the krogan flailing as he was set ablaze.

"We're going in circles now dammit," Jack cursed as she leaned against a terminal, back at the market area.

Daemon crossed his arms as he said nothing to her comment; instead more often than not his eyes kept glancing around surreptitiously, looking for whoever was watching him. "Not going to become calamari gumbo, damned if I let that happen," He thought to himself.

"I'm going where my omni-tool tells me to go, I can't help that it's in a circle," Tali said as she worked at the terminal, though it was obvious she was a bit annoyed at the running around as Jack was.

"Fuck it, let me know when we can stop chasing our asses," she pushed herself off, walking away to near one of the terminals they hacked before.

He moved over to Tali, but his eyes never left Jack as he asked barely moving his lips, "You have a feeling we're being watched?"

To her credit she didn't stop and look around, instead she just kept working, "I've felt as if someone was watching us, just not me specifically," she said.

"I think they are watching me…" he said, turning his head side to side slowly.

"What makes you think that?" Tali asked from the looks of things she was almost done hacking the terminal.

"Something Joker told me," He said, looking back over at Jack again, she seemed to have started to browse the shot gun selections at one terminal; he'd keep a note on that.

Before she could no doubt ask what that was, the terminal suddenly beeped, a orange screen popping up with text that read: "The turian's asking too many questions. Observer recommends terminating him and framing assassin or salarian contact."

"Not the turian, salarian, batarian, or the vorcha it seems," He said after reading the message.

"That just leaves the krogan," Tali said, uploading the data onto her omni-tool. "Should we contact Liara and tell her?" She asked.

He reached up, rubbing the side of his head as he worked it all in his head, none of the other aliens can be the Observer it seemed, but he wasn't about to get the wrong person killed because they didn't get every bit of info possible. "Let's find more information before we do that," he said, "Where's the next data point?"

Tali glanced down at her omni-tool, tapping at it for a moment before she just stared at it, before looking over at the terminal Jack was at. She looked over at him.

"…I'll go first," he said, walking over to the terminal.

"I smell like burnt krogan," Garrus sighed.

"It's an improvement for your usual smell," Shepard said, walking towards the terminal where a frantic Nassana was shouting 'Come in damnit!'

After going up the elevator and interrogating an eclipse merc, and by interrogate she shoved him through the window, hanging him from a ledge until he talked; they cleared the next room and ran into a group of salarians. After hearing how the assassin saved them from the merc about to kill them, she knew they were close to catching up to him.

Shepard went up to the comm terminal, pressing a button, hearing Nassana's voice once again "Finally, what the hell is going on down there?"

"We're sorry, but they can't reach you right now, leave your name and number and…well they won't be getting back to you since they're dead," Shepard said cheerfully into the comm.

Nassana must have had a good memory as she recognized the voice "Commander Shepard…damn it!" the comm suddenly cut off.

"From vocal response, stress levels are high," Mordin said, tapping his bottom lip "may do something drastic."

"She'll make a mistake then," Garrus said.

"And we'll be there when she does, let's finish this," Shepard said, running up the ramp.

"Turian contact working well with trader. Observer has rescinded kill order against him, given difficulty in securing contact with the trader through other methods."

That was the fourth text they got from hacking the terminals, hardly helpful in Daemons eyes, but he wasn't about to give up yet. "Let's find one more data point, then make our decision," He said.

"Why are we fucking around?" Jack groaned, "It's obviously the krogan, call the blue bitch up and have her waste his ass already."

"We have to be absolutely sure, otherwise all of this would be for nothing," Tali said, tapping at her omni-tool, looking for the last point.

Jack just grumbled, no doubt she'd rather be looking at shotguns then hacking at terminals. Daemon looked at her for a long moment before he said, "You could head back to the ship Jack, Tali and I can handle the rest."

Her head jerked up to look at him as if that thought hadn't occurred to her; looking away she crossed her arms, "Not getting rid of me that easily fucker."

A smile grew on his lips as he looked at her, when she glanced at him she turned completely around, "One more Jack, promise" he said.

"It's right near Liara's office," Tali said, pointing over to her office.

"Well then, let's finish this," He said, walking right over.

"Irony abounds doesn't it Nassana?" Shepard asked as she entered the pent house, having no concern whatsoever of her guards pointing weapons at them. "You have me kill your sister two years ago, now I am."

"Who hired you to kill me," the asari hissed, she was sweating profusely obviously she was a bit of a nervous wreck, "How much?"

She heard the sound of the vent above her bend with a sudden weight; Nassana's mercs heard it too, rising the weapons, looking around frantically. "What?" Nassana spat, at one of her mercs.

"I heard something," an asari merc said.

"Damn it!" Nassana cursed, waving her arm "Check the other entrances!"

The asari moved away from Nassana, leaving two mercs behind her.

"Money isn't going to make this little problem go away," Shepard said, crossing her arms.

"Screw you," Nassana said, "After I deal with this-"

A moment later a figure drops from the vent, snapping the neck of one guard, smoothly crushing the throat of another with one punch, shooting the asari merc in the chest before blocking Nassana's gun arm, pressing his pistol against the womans stomach, staring into her eyes before pulling the trigger. All in the matter of seconds. The drell assassin slowly eased the woman onto the table, crossing her hands over her chest before he bowed his head, clasping his hands together in what seemed like….prayer?

Shepard was too stunned at the sudden and impressive entrance to say anything for a moment before she looked over at Garrus asking "You time that?"

"Happened too quickly…" Garrus said just as stunned as she was.

"Six seconds rounded up," Mordin said, tapping his omni-tool.

"Thanks Mordin," She said before she walked towards the drell, who still seemed to be in prayer. "I've been looking for you," She said.

He didn't say anything at first, still in prayer before a deep throaty voice came from him, "I apologize," he said, "but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"You really think this piece of dirt deserves to be prayed for?" she asked surprised.

"Not for her," he said, looking up at them with black eyes, "For me."

"Well…that's a surprise," She thought, not expecting piousness to come from an assassin.

"I must admit I'm impressed how far you went to find me, all this destruction, chaos…you said you've been looking for me…well…here I am," He said.

"I want your help," She said, "a race called the Collectors have been abduction human colonies, we're going to take them down."

He turned away from them, staying silent for a moment before he said, "I'm aware of their existence, to attack them you'd have to pass through the Omega 4 relay, considered impossible."

"I've been told many things were impossible," Shepard said, walking over to his side.

"Fair enough," the drell said, "You have a reputation for doing the impossible." He closed his eyes, his hands slipping behind his back, standing so perfectly straight, "I was to retire after this…I'm dying…impossible odds do not bother me, the Collectors abducting your colonists does."

She blinked her eyes rapidly at that before she looked down, "I'm sorry, is there anything we can do for you?"

"There's nothing that can be done, it's not contagious, and will not burden my work, and giving me this chance is enough." He turned towards her, holding his hand out saying, "I accept the contract, no charge."

She looked down at his hand, shaking it firmly without another thought, "Alright then let's-" she started before she was interrupted.

Tali's voice suddenly appeared in her head, "Shepard, we've got a problem!" the quarian sounding breathless, rushed, and was that Jack cursing in the back ground?

"Tali, what's wrong?" She asked, already running towards the door.

"Liara's secretary is the Observer, she attacked her and now-" Tali started to say before loud sound cut her off.

"We're on our way damn it!" She cursed as she burst into a run, drell, turian, and salarian right behind her.

A few moments earlier…

"I've almost…got it!" Tali said tapping at her omin-tool before a screen popped up in the terminal.

"Good work Tali," Daemon said, moving next to her to look at the text.

"Can we mug a few soft rich pricks after this?" Jack asked, moving onto the other side of Tali.

"….Jack," He started.

"Just thinking out loud," she said.

He just shook his head for a moment before getting back to the text which read: "Vorcha trader has requested no further contact with salarian. Salarian is becoming more trouble than he is worth. Observer recommends a kill, but she may have a grudge."

"…She?" Tali said in surprise.

"The Observer is a chick?" Jack was shocked as well.

"It could still be the krogan," he said, looking at the text again…he raised his head up, Jack staring at him. "…What?" He asked.

"Wrex, a krogan friend of ours once said that krogan females were kept in camps back on their homeworld, I've never seen a female krogan before," Tali explained.

"Me either, and I've seen plenty of shit," Jack said.

"…If that is the case then none of these choices make sense," He said thinking back to the other text, all of them called the aliens male. This was the first mention of a female, someone was missing from all this.

"Liara is on the line," Tali said, reaching up, touching the side of her helmet before she tapped her omni-tool.

After a moment the asari's voice came out of Tali's omni-tool, "Have you found anything?" she asked.

Daemon took a step closer to Tali's omni-tool saying, "None of the people here fit the description of the Observer, who gave you this information?"

Liara's voice sounded confused, "That's not possible, Nyxeris gave me this information…" her voice sounded as if it was coming to a revelation before a cry and the sound of something crashing cut her off.

"Move it!" he shouted, running up the stairs, seeing the secretary desk absent, and the door to Liara's office locked, "Tali can you get this door open?"

The quarian was only one step behind him when he made it to the door, opening up her omni-tool her three fingers really started to fly. What seemed like hours only took a few seconds the door opened wide; Jack was right behind him, the blue glow of biotics coming from her body, a look of excitement crossing her face when the door opened. Daemon ran in first reaching he grasped his pistol, suddenly hearing the door slam shut behind him. His pistol suddenly jerked out of his hand into the waiting grip of Liara's secretary, Nyxeris. In the few short moments after Liara was cut off, her office became a wreck, her desk smashed, the window cracked, and the asari herself was on the ground with a gash on her head, but he caught the sight of her chest moving, she was alive, for now.

"So very clever Mr. Heraldson," Nyxeris said in that same tone as he first heard her in, now absolutely sure it was sarcastic now, "Those years in that primitive cyro tank didn't harm your head any it seems."

A tingle went down his spine at those words, "How do you know that," he asked, his fingers twitching some as he figured out how to reach this woman.

"The Shadow Broker knows a lot about you Mr. Heraldson, more then you know," She said, pointing the gun straight at his chest, "Shame I have to kill you, but the Broker will forgive me if I bring you and Jacks corpse to dissect."

His fingers slowly clenched as he widened his stance "The only way you'll get to Jack is over my dead body…" he murmured already knowing what was coming next.

"That's the idea," She said, suddenly pulling the trigger.

His hands shot up before the bang came from the gun, the bullet rebounding off the barrier in front of him. Her eyes raised up in surprise before he turned, picking up the lamp, barrier fading as he chucked it at the asari.

Her second shot went wide from the lamp knocking her arm, her body glowing with biotics as he lunged towards her, his omni-tool glowing on his arm as the blade shot out from it, sinking into her chest. He felt her body slump against his, "Bastard…" she coughed before she gave that last exhale before death claimed her. He jerked his arm away from her, covered in asari blood, the blade slipping back into his omni-tool. Not wasting any time he rushed over to Liara, kneeling down he held his non-bloodied hand, touching the side of her face, looking closer at the wound. From what he could tell it looked worse than it actually was, but that didn't mean there wasn't any internal damage. He started to carefully dab at the wound with medi-gel before the asari started to groan, her eyes fluttering open as she shifted.

"Take it easy, you got knocked on conscious," he said, slipping an arm beneath her back, rising her up into a sitting position.

"Nyxeris snuck up on me…happened so fast…" Liara said as she raised a hand to press against the side of her head. "I can't believe the Observer was my own secretary," She said, seeming to be pulling herself together now as she looked over at him "I owe you one, Colonel."

"Let's just not let me get abducted by asari women and turned into calamari gumbo and we'll call it even," He said, slowly helping her up on her feet.

When she got on her feet she looked at him as if he said something insane, "I'm sorry…what?"

He was about to tell her everything Joker told him, but then he stopped with a realization. She had no idea what he was talking about; he'd been pranked by that damned pilot!

Suddenly the doors opened wide and six people came bursting in one of them he didn't recognize, all of them bristling with guns. Shepard came straight forward, looking over at him and Liara, "You both alright?" she asked.

"No," Daemon said, walking past, he suddenly felt very tired, "Joker made me think I was a cannibal." Leaving the whole group looking very…very confused.

Authors note: So ends this latest chapter, tell me what you think of it, please review! All grammar flubs are my fault and I apologize.