Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. At all.

A/N: Ugh, I have no faith in my writing abilities. BUT. Here I go regardless. As always, feel free to point out my screwups. If you like the story, let me know that as well. Enjoy. Edit: Just to be clear, Cory is a guy. Didn't want any confusion. Also broke up the paragraphs since the doc. manager wont let me tab right.

Tokyo, Japan.
January 23rd, 2177. 2:15 P.M.

The sounds of the crowds start to dull as Kasumi leads me farther away from the well-worn tourist paths and deeper into the areas only locals would brave. She moves with confidence now, relaxing as delves deeper into her world. I can't help but look around nervously at the people who eye us from chairs and doorways into ramshackle buildings.

"Hey," I look back towards Kasumi. "Move like you belong. If these guys make you for a tourist, they'll eat you alive." I try to follow her advice, but I keep checking behind us for trouble. Eventually, through many narrow alleys and turnabouts that I'd never find my way out of alone, we reach our destination. "Welcome to the safehouse." She says with a flourish.

"Safehouse" might have been a stretch. Little more than a room in an unfinished building, it's only advantage was being well out of the way. With a few mats on the floor, and an slightly sour odor, it's not the most pleasant place I've ever been. Kasumi seems to notice my hesitation, and speaks. "Well, it's not five-star, but I lay low here sometimes if one of my.. Adventures goes awry."

"Adventures, huh?" I smile at her wording.

"Well, I'd like to think of them as such." The smirk on her face says it all.

"Okay then. What now?"

"Now, we wait a couple hours, hoping Mr. Owens gives up his search."

"Owens, huh?"

"Yep, pretty small-time guy. Only reason he even has henchmen is his money." The pieces start to fit into place.
"Let me guess: he has too much of it for his own good, and you took it upon yourself to help him with that."

"Very astute, Mr. Weston."

"I try. You know, you never did tell me your name." She smiles fully now.

"I didn't, did I?"

"No."

"Well I'm not going to." I look at her, confused. "A thief's identity is a fairly important thing to keep, and I don't know if I trust you yet." Fair enough. Now inside sitting on a mat, I look back towards the door before voicing another question.

"How much did you take?"

"Oh, enough for some food, a change of clothes, and about 35,000 credits extra." I do an immediate double take.

"What?"

"If it's any consolation, he's not a nice guy."

"Then why would you piss him off by taking that much?"

"Relax, he doesn't know who we are, and only people who know this area to heart would be able to find us."

"Quite right, sweetheart." Oh, shit.

Standing in the open doorway is none other than Mr. Owens, flanked by his two thugs, neither of which seem pleased to see me."Your neighbors aren't very concerned about your well-being when it comes to money. Bruno, Pex. get them" They start to approach us, a dangerously happy look on their faces. "Hey guys..." Is the last thing out of my mouth before one of them puts his fist to my jaw. As my vision swims towards unconsciousness, I hear the menacing chuckle of men with nasty plots.

'I have got to stop waking up in pain.' I can feel myself being dragged somewhere, and I slowly open my eyes. One of the large thugs is pulling me along by my left arm while my right is occupied by a smaller guy, though the armor he wore suggests he's for more than looking mean. the folded-up weapon and knife at his hip attest to it. the two are speaking, so I focus on them while feigning continued unconsciousness.

"So what's the plan?" the smaller one says as we start to go down some stairs.

"The boss wants this one taken care of while he deals with the other one."

"Taken care of? Pex, what did he even do?" 'shitshitshit.'

"He got in our business. That's all you need to know."

".. Guess it doesn't matter."

"That's right, it doesn't." we stop moving. "We're here."

I open my eyes fully, looking around. A cellar of some type, with a few crates and no other exits. "We'll be waiting up top. Do it, and get up there."

'Okay, gotta distract him, look for a plan.' my eyes scan the room for something I can use when it clicks: humor. 'Maybe I can get him to lower his guard enough.' By this time, Pex is gone, and my would-be murderer has noticed I'm awake. He sighs slightly before speaking.

"Sorry man, wrong time, wrong place. Nothing personal."

Time to go for broke. "That's what you think. I fucked your wife last light." He flinches slightly, and just as I'm sure I've screwed myself, he smiles.

"Oh, yeah? And how did you know it was my wife?"

"She said her husband was some thug-looking prick with shitty armor."

"Oh you're a real cool for a guy about to take a bullet." I can tell he's enjoying the conversation somewhat.

"After fucking your wife, I'll take two." He's officially amused at this point, and it shows.

"Not bad, Not bad. Tell ya what: where do you want it, the chest, or the face?" He gestures with his gun, a Low-value brand Predator from the looks of it.

"That's what I asked your wife."

"Okay man, enough with the wife shit." Oh, no you don't.

"Ask me how fat she is." He looks at me a moment, and I look back at him, eyes daring him to ask. He relents.

"Okay, how fat is she?" He asks, a grin forming on his face.

"She's so fat you gotta roll her in flour and look for the wet spot." He chuckles. "Man, if you wanna fuck her, you gotta slap her thigh and ride the wave in."More chuckling." Now I'm not saying she's fat, but her high school picture WAS a satellite image." now he's fully laughing, and his arm lowers slightly.

Time to strike.

I whip my hand out, forcing his arm to the side as my other wraps around the grip of the knife at his waist. In a heartbeat, it's out of it's sheathe and finding purchase in the side of his neck. I'm as surprised as he is, not realizing what I'd done until it was already in motion. I pull the blade free, still in shock. He drops the pistol, hands at his neck as he starts to weaken already.

"You.. Bastard.." Famous last words.

I look at him, life draining out of his body. "And then some." I mutter, grabbing the pistol and heading for the stairs.

Amazingly, I still have my things. As for the gun, I'd learn by doing. Keeping it unfolded, I come out of the stairwell to the lobby of a rather luxurious-looking apartment/office building, vacant of any front desk clerks. With a streak of ingenuity, I decide to check the desk terminal. Lo and behold, penthouse number two was owned by a Trevor Owens. I also find an emergency code for his front door. 'Things are finally looking up.' One elevator ride later that, by some miracle, moved faster than two miles an hour, I'm Keying in the code to the door on the little holo-screen. It opens without trouble, revealing a posh, spacious apartment with windows on two walls, showing a view of downtown Tokyo at night that would've been mesmerizing in any other situation. As it is, I have a group standing out on a deck to worry about.

Owens is gesturing on and on, waving his arms in an arrogant way while his thugs stand with their backs to the door. The only person facing my direction is Kasumi, hands bound and eyes full of fear. If she sees me, she hides it well. I slowly approach them, my shoes making no noise on the rich carpeting. I'm almost close enough to do something when Owens spins around, and upon looking at me shouts "Bruno!"

Said man and Pex spin around and my hands act before my mind can give the order, bringing the pistol up and squeezing the trigger. At point blank range, the volley of shots tear through both men's jackets, blood oozing from their chests as they hit the ground. I have no more time to reflect on this as Owens pulls his own pistol from inside his suit. I dive behind the marble counter as the resulting shots slam against the other side. By the sound of it, his gun is a lot more powerful than my own. 'I'll only have a moment out of cover before my shields collapse.' Instead of looking over the top, I spin around the side.

Holding Kasumi as a shield, he aims his pistol at me. I line up my own as I feel impacts along my shield. As they collapse, I squeeze the trigger. The resulting slug enters the mans skull in a fraction of a second, his body recoiling and starting to go over the rail.

With Kasumi still in his grip.

"Shit." Time seems to speed up, rather than slow down, as I sprint towards her. I manage to get a grip on her arm, just as they tumble over.

Which only pulls me over with them.

"SHIT!" Is my response to this turn of events. Now free of his grip (NOW he lets go), Kasumi clings to my neck as we start to plummet off of the 80-story highrise. Straight down.

'Somebody up there wants me dead.' I briefly reflect before pulling the ripcord on my backpack.

Despite my lack of parachuting abilities, we manage to tumble to the ground, in a heap of limbs and chute, alive. Working myself from the tangle, I stand up and take a look around. We've managed to land in a relatively vacant area, a park of some kind. I'm brought from my thoughts by Kasumi, who is struggling to get up with her hands still bound with tape. I pull the bloodied knife from my pocket (where else could I keep it?) and assist her in removing it. As soon as she's free, I'm surprised by a pouncing hug, which I hesitantly return. She releases me and steps back, looking at me for a moment, before she simply says "Kasumi. Kasumi Goto." I nod at this, and turn on my Omni-tool.

"Look," I begin."We can catch an outbound shuttle to Detroit. From there, we can figure out how to get off of Earth." She looks at me questioningly, and I continue."We can't stay here, not with Owens dead." I surprise myself with the words, but they make sense as I say them. "we can't afford to have his bosses finding us. Do you understand?" She hesitantly nods.

"Yes, but where should we go?" I take a moment to consider this, before replying.

"The Citadel."

Location unknown
"Him, sir?"

"Yes. With what he's done today, coupled with his lack of history, he's.. Different. Make it happen."

"Yes sir."