Five Seconds

Chapter 15: Making Connections

Authors Note: Here's another chapter cooked up for you all! All Mass Effect Characters (save Daemon) and the Mass Effect Universe are owned by Bioware.

Daemon would make it up to the Command deck, the doors opening up as he walked out, seeing Shepard step out of the armory, making eye contact with him as she said "So how's Jack?" He would turn as she walked into the elevator.

"She's fine, cheerful even after I gave her one of the pistols," He said, hefting the bag over his shoulder.

"Really, maybe I should go pay her a visit," She said, even though he could see that she hit the button for the crew quarters, it seemed she knew better then to bug the biotic too much.

"Yeah maybe," he said with a smirk, watching the door close shut, turning he would head right over towards the armory. Within he saw Jacob polishing some of the weaponry, the Agent's head rising up to see who it was.

"Wondered when you were coming up here, thinking of putting the old system into your weapons?" He asked as he pushed his work over to one side, "I can share a table."

"Thanks," Daemon said with a nod, walking over he'd set the bag down, pulling out one of the old rifles while setting down his own, starting to take the old rifle apart, "You had a look in your eye before you went into the elevator, what was that about?" he asked, looking over at Jacob.

"Notice that huh?" Jacob shook his head, "I realized that Cerberus regulates messages to everyone on the ship, yet this message about the Hugo's beacon didn't go through them, I thought…well I thought the Illusive Man was messing with my head."

"Was he? And plus if Cerberus regulates messages I wouldn't be getting SPAM on how my supposed girlfriend left me for a krogan cause 'I'm too small', using language like they were commenting on a YouTube video."

That got a laugh out of Jacob, looking side long at him, "Yeah, there's always some that get through the cracks…what's YouTube?" Daemon would stop for a second, looking over at him, Jacob caught the look before raising his hand up, "Past stuff, I get it…here." The Agent reached over, grasping at Daemons rifle before starting to take it apart.

"Lending a hand?"

"Let's just say I'm curious to see if there's much of a difference between the two designs myself," Jacob replied. "Anything to keep my mind off of what happened down there…to those people; my….that man treated them like objects."

Daemon would bow his head, "This isn't the first time I have seen men act like animals…" He would look down at the system in the old rifle, comparing it to the guts within his own rifle that Jacob was pulling apart, it definitely would fit without sacrificing any of the other parts of the weapon.

"What happened?" Jacob asked, Daemon would see him turn towards him, crossing his arms, "Look, I can't, and I don't want to imagine the hell you're living right now, but keeping shit to yourself? That isn't healthy, talking about your past might just help a bit."

Daemon would take a deep breath, sighing softly as he focused on his work, "Me and my friend…Lauren, we lived in a small town, well I lived near one, I was in a rural area surrounded by forests, but we were walking around at night, it was a town where everyone knew everyone, there wasn't any danger wandering around like there was in a city…" He glanced over at Jacob as he looked down at the gun, "It was in September, we'd graduated and were still trying to figure out our futures, but we ran across the…bad group that couldn't let go of their 'glory days' from school."

"I take it you and they didn't mix well back in the day," Jacob said.

"We fought a lot, I was their personal punching bag, a bag they couldn't hit ever," He smirked some before he shook his head, "We tried to get away from them, but they got alcohol from somewhere and were belligerent, they chased us into an alley and went for me." He drew in a deep breath, "I thought I could just do what I always did, block, dodge their hits, but…at one point one of them, the worst out of all of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at Lauren, I couldn't move, next thing I knew I was on the ground, ribs aching, bloodied…and they had her pinned to the wall, she was screaming…" he raised his hand up, gripping at his head.

"They didn't…" Jacob said, his full attention on him now.

"The ass hole must have dropped his gun while struggling with her, cause it was right next to me when I could see again, I never held a gun before….but I knew what to do, I cocked it, and I pointed it right at them, I never wanted to hurt someone before, but.." he gritted his teeth slightly, "I could take the hell they gave me for years…but the moment they tried to hurt the one thing that mattered to me outside of my family? I wanted to hurt them...but I didn't have to."

"The police show up?"

"No, but it was the next best thing," He said, "A man came out of nowhere and grabbed them, and just…completely wiped the floor out of the four of them, he was a soldier passing through to visit family, he'd stopped by the nearby gas station to refuel and heard the screaming." Daemon would shake his head as the scene played in his head.

He was just about to pull the trigger when a man came up from behind them and grabbed the first, he didn't even get a chance to fight back before a heavy fist slammed into the side of his head, his body falling limp to the ground, the other three tried to go for him. What resulted was the sound of limbs being broken and screams of agony tearing into the night as the stranger beat them down. He felt a hand touch his face as the gun slipped from his fingers, "Daemon? Daemon are…are you alright?" it was Lauren, from the warm drops dripping onto his face he could only assume she was crying. He heard one final scream before the thud of a fist meeting a skull and nothing more. His eyes started to fade again from the pain until he felt his body being lifted up, "I got you son," a deep voice said, Daemons head tilting back as the last thing he saw was the bright yellow 'Ranger' tab on the man's shoulder before nothing.

"So he was the reason you became a Ranger," Jacob said, placing the old system into his rifle before closing it shut, holding the semi-automatic up, aiming down the sights.

"He certainly was an influence," Daemon said, putting the old gutted rifle to the side, "I couldn't protect the one thing that mattered to me, and he showed me that I could do something about it, I owed him, I'm only glad I could pay him back," he said, reaching up as he gingerly rubbed his shoulder where the sniper bullet went through him.

"Well that should do it," Jacob said, holding the rifle out to him, "I'm going to grab another rifle like it and we'll see how they compare, grab a few targets as well and have EDI measure the force."

"Sounds good," Daemon said, taking his rifle back, reaching down he would pull out his ear piece, sliding it back on as the visor slid around and flipped open in front of him, instead of the usual HUD showing the clip, instead a heat meter popped up instead, his computer system must have still had the old program hidden amongst its other functions.

Daemon and Jacob made their way to the elevator, going down to the storage area, "Mind if I ask a question?" He asked, looking over at Jacob.

"Ask away, I think you earned it," Jacob said looking over at him, as the elevator moved down so slowly.

"Why work for Cerberus?" He asked, "Shepard has told me of the terrible things she had seen them do, while I can see Miranda perhaps doing something like that, you don't seem capable of it."

Jacob would bow his head for a moment in thought before looking over at him, "I used to serve in the Alliance military, but I just got tired of all the red tape, people were being hurt and officers were too busy debating on making a survey crew to figure out what to do, where Cerberus goes and does it, we're got a bad rep I know that, but we're doing something good here."

"I can understand that, but the path to hell is paved with good intentions, even you thought this…Illusive Man was messing with you," Daemon said as the elevator door opened, stepping out.

"He wasn't though," Jacob said, "It was actually Miranda that sent me that message." Walking over to a crate he would set up a few targets, humanoid shaped figures whose build was that of an armored unit.

"Miranda?" Daemon said with surprise, "She sent the message letting you know of your father? That is…the first nice thing I've heard her do."

"Yeah, she was fulfilling a promise she made to me a long time ago…her memory is good, selective…but good," Jacob said.

Daemon watched the Agent walk over next to him as they stood a good far pace away from the targets, the way he said those words made him ask, "You two an item at one time?"

"We were," he said, "But…she deserves a better man then I," he said, Daemon felt Jacobs eyes look at him for a moment before he said, "Alright, ready?"

Daemon would just nod before he brought the rifle up, after counting down they both would open fire on their targets. In his visor he saw the heat bar rise before starting to fall right back down, shifting as he fired again and again, knowing by habit how many shots his rifle usually had he kept track he could already tell that he liked this far better than the other system.

After riddling their targets with bullets the two would walk over, holding up his omni-tool Jacob would measure the penetration of each round, after a few moments he would say, "…There isn't much to any difference between penetration, each round in both guns went in the same depth.

"Correct," the feminine voice of EDI chimed in, "Measuring kinetic energy there was no statistically relevant difference between the two."

"Thank you EDI," Daemon said, feeling quite satisfied with that response, looking over at Jacob "I think we made a hell of a discovery today."

"We? Nah," Jacob said shaking his head, "You were the one that picked them up, we'd probably would have left those guns there to decay if you weren't around, so this is all you."

"Still, I appreciate you helping me Jacob," he would hold his hand out to the agent, a faint smile on his lips.

Jacob would reach right back and give a firm shake, "Anytime, and don't be a stranger around the armory alright? It's good to have a bit of company every now and again."

"I'll do my best," Daemon said, he had to admit it felt good starting to make connections again, first with Jack, now with Jacob, perhaps he didn't have to linger in his room all the time, listening to music and catching up with the now old stuff of the 2013's and 2014's.

"Attention Crew," Shepard's voice came out from the intercom, Daemon and Jacobs heads tilting up to listen. "All squad members are to gear up and head down to the storage area, we will be conducting battle practice, be on the bottom level in ten minutes or get off my ship."

Daemon turned his head, making eye contact with Jacob, in a few minutes they just might be going head to head. Jacob chuckled some, "I guess I better go gear up then," he said, walking towards the elevator "Good luck if we're on opposite teams," he said.

"Likewise," the Colonel said, already outfitted since he never got undressed he would just start to stretch, loosening up before the intense fight that was no doubt going to occur on the floor.

Shepard paced the Engineer deck as she watched the teams being formed up, for the first spar she split them between two groups, decided by the two leaders…Jacob Taylor and Daemon Heraldson. She was gauging their abilities to lead larger groups; sure Daemon successfully commanded a larger team before back in his time, but those were men he got to know, how well would a new group do beneath him? She saw potential in Jacob as well, being such a likeable man they may just listen to him. The crates within the storage area had been shifted around on either side to act as cover, with a few stacked up to give a view point on the fight. The rules for the sparring were simple: The ammo you bring in is what you get unless you get it from a fallen body, practice rounds only and no ammo mods, if you're hit in a vital area or if EDI calls it, you drop where you are, last people or persons standing on one team wins, NO explosives, and finally no biotics save for barriers.

With a virtual flip of a coin Daemon got to pick first, to little surprise to Shepard he had picked Jack, not just because she was a great fighter, but he just seemed to be drawn to her and functioned best when she was nearby. Jacob seemed to want to counter by picking Samara, a logical choice in her mind. Soon the teams had been set, Daemons team consisting of: Jack, Garrus, Tali, Zaeed, and Mordin. Jacob had selected the following: Samara, Miranda, Kasumi, Thane, and Grunt.

Once the teams had been set up they had only a few moments to prepare before the fight began. Shepard watched as Daemon was already pointing, giving instructions, setting Garrus up on the high ground with his sniper rifle, Jack, Tali, and Mordin up front and Zaeed somewhere in the center with Daemon joining him. From the way he was set it he seemed to have a defensive formation that could easily switch to the offensive with such close quarter crew like Tali, Jack, and Mordin, not to mention make it hard to approach. Jacob didn't have such luck, working with a few strong willed members like Kasumi and Grunt made it difficult to come up with a suitable form. Soon however, EDI would start to count down:

"The sparring begins in 5…4…3…2…1…"

BONG!

What resulted was a hail of bullets from both sides at the ringer, Grunt suddenly charging right down the center towards the cover where Tali, Jack, and Mordin were. The bullets bouncing off his thick armor made it look as if he would make it and knock their cover away to break formation. That was until Mordin went and stood up out of cover, omni-tool flashing as a dart sank itself into the side of his neck, electricity pulsing through the Krogan before falling over. Neural shock. Mordin seemed satisfied with the result, still standing even after Daemon told him to get down…until his head jerked back and was blasted by sniper fire from Thane a second afterwards.

"Grunt eliminated,"

"Mordin Solus eliminated," EDI chimed out after each fall. One on each side already down, yet the intense fire fight ensued. Shepard watched as Daemon said something into his com, Garrus nodding his head as the sniper rounds went flying over towards Thanes position. The drell ducked back behind cover before popping back out, the two snipers exchanging fire between each other while shifting positions, leaving their prospective teammates to cover them. In the end though Shepard knew who was the better sniper, and the bullet that struck Thane in the head proved it. Garrus nodded his head in satisfaction, until Shepard watched Daemon turn around and shout, it wasn't until Garrus jerked around to move when he was sucker punched by a cloaked Kasumi, suddenly vanishing again before Daemon could get a lock on her.

"Thane Krios eliminated, Garrus Vakarian eliminated," EDI announced, once again the numbers still even on both sides.

It continued on like that for a while, until only Miranda, Jacob, Daemon, and Jack remained on the battle field. The rest of the crew just laying down nursing the bruises they would soon have. Shepard leaned in, her eyes intent on what was to be the climax of this even sparring match. The four jumped out from behind their covers, approaching from either side, ducking and firing as they got closer together. Jack made a beeline right for Miranda once her shot gun ran out of ammo, the female agent being forced to toss her own gun away once the clip popped out, the two starting to glow with biotics hands raised to fire at each other before a blaring sound came from the speakers, "Miranda Lawson and Jack are disqualified for attempted use of offensive biotics." Both females looked extremely pissed at each other, and perhaps feeling idiotic for forgetting the rules to begin with before storming off the field, leaving just Jacob and Daemon the two leaders of the squads to finish this.

Daemon sighed softly as he saw Miranda and Jack both get disqualified, shaking his head as he slowly leaned his head out, jerking back as he just missed a bullet by Jacob, however he also heard the 'click' of a gun losing its clip. "Out of ammo Jacob?" Daemon shouted, glancing around the corner.

"What gave you that idea," Jacob shouted back before Daemon heard the sound of a gun dropping and footsteps. He would step out from the corner, rifle raised up at Jacob, before he saw the agent make a 'bring it on' flick of his fingers, "No fun shooting an unarmed opponent is it? Let's finish this with a dance."

Daemon thought about it for a moment, he could end it right now with a bullet in the chest, but that would be poor sportsmanship. Reaching back he'd put his rifle away, walking towards Jacob, "Alright then, I'll even let you have the first swing."

"How nice…" Jacob said before suddenly aiming a savage kick right up towards the Rangers face…

Shepard just watched as Jacob went for Daemon, she knew of his martial background and should have at least been able to land a hit on him. But nothing connected, Daemon blocked, dodged and caught every single punch and kick was thrown his way, all with little to any movement on his part, every motion a papers width from connecting. Shepard could see Jacob becoming frustrated, the punches and kicks coming faster, but Daemon kept up with him. She could see the strain now; if Jacob kept it up he'd leave himself open. As she expected, one wild haymaker and with one last block Daemon brought one upper cut to his jaw, sending him sprawling back on his ass. Impressive…very impressive.

Daemon watched Jacob fall to the ground, pulling out his rifle, staring the agent down, "Surrender?" He asked.

He watched as Jacob drew in a heavy breath, staring up at the Ranger "Fuck…" he held his hands up in a sign of defeat, "I give up."

Daemon would put the rifle away he'd hold his hand out for him to take. The agent looked up at his hand before grasping it, standing up; they looked at each other for a moment before nodding, "Never seen anyone move like that before, glad you're on our side."

"Likewise," Miranda said, walking up with her arms crossed beneath her chest, Daemon could see Jack sulking in the background, pissed she missed her shot at beating up the 'cheerleader' as she liked to call her.

"Here I thought I only had such reflexes," Thane said as he walked up, the rest of the crew getting up from their spots to get together and shaking hands.

"Alright everyone," Shepard's voice came out from the speakers, "That's it for today, go and clean up, tomorrow we finish up some more personal business."

"Whose personal business?" Daemon asked, looking around at the group.

"Mine," Miranda said, turning to walk towards the elevator before stopping and looking over her shoulder, "And it's important to me, so if you come with, do not screw it up…"

He felt her eyes stare right into his, the intensity he felt there was serious, the look of someone that had something precious to lose.

Authors Note: There we go for another chapter, hopefully this next loyalty mission I can flesh out a bit better than the last, and get it up a bit faster to boot. If you liked it or think it could be better/improved it please write it down, polite criticism is welcomed.