The people were a blur around Jane as she walked hastily down the long corridors of the Citadel's main medical district, only resisting the urge to break into a run to avoid attracting attention to herself. She had left her team back at the Normandy with only the briefest of orders to secure the ship hangar and start questioning the thief they had been left with by that accursed man, who even after everything he and his filth had done to her thought a few hollow words would allow him to become her ally.

It was probably not a good sign that none of them questioned where she was going, her face probably showed more of her turbulent emotional state than she intended, even Naruto hadn't tried to stop her going off by herself. That didn't mean he hadn't put a clone on watching her of course, given her standing order she would be more angry if he hadn't out of fear of upsetting her, but given the rather tense air she had left between them when he decided to stop lying to her it wasn't a sure thing.

Still, she had other things to worry about right now, working out how she felt about him and his recent actions would have to come later. Bringing up her omni-tool as she came to a stop, Jane took one last look at the address the Illusive man had headed the file transfer he had so graciously 'gifted' to her with, though the rather mercenary looking guards at the front entrance of the private clinic's address was a bit of a give-away.

The three of them were intimidating enough to a civilian, but Jane picked out several things that made it clear to her that these were little more than street thugs. Only one of them was remotely close to acting professionally, the aged Turian stood to one side of the door and doing her best to ignore the other two as they distracted themselves with a card game of some sort. If that wasn't enough, the way she kept shifting showed that her battle scarred predator III armour was definitely scavenged and hadn't been modified to fit her frame, fine for guard duty but not what you wanted in sustained combat.

Nothing she couldn't handle if she needed to then, and if they weren't prepared to back down she had some anger issues she was more than happy to work off on them before heading inside to... The thought came to a stop as she mentally steadied herself as the nightmares of her childhood threatened to surface once more...

Looking up at her father as they walked through the woods towards town...

The warm feeling of her mother's hand pulling her back as she tried to pull her forwards through the crowds...

The screams and cries in the distance as they ran as fast as they could through the undergrowth...

Fire and ash, her mother screaming in the arms of the bad aliens as Jane grabbed at her father's shirt, tears streaming down her face to mix with the blood coating her hands...

The shark like grin of the towering Batarian as he reached down to grab her, blood of her father covering his hands, not noticing her little arms gripping the handle of the blade stuck in her father's stomach...

So much blood...

Even after all these years, and reliving the nightmares more times than she could count both asleep and awake, Jane only just managed to repress her sub-conscious instinct to draw the blade at her hip defensively, the same blade that bore the blood of her father and her first kill in its sordid history. Several of the shrinks that she had been forced to go see had tried to get her to give up the blade, so that she could let the past rest and move on without her rather unique version of a 'coping mechanism'.

But she had made a promise, after waking up in the wasteland remnants she had called home and managed to stagger into Alliance held territory when they counter attacked, that she wouldn't rest until she found out what happened to her mother and put every last slaver involved in the attack into the ground. And now, thanks to the man she had in second place on her 'shit list', she could hopefully achieve half of that particular life goal.

Mind now steeled for what was to come, Jane moved forward once more, making no attempt at disguising her destination as she cut through the crowd that quickly parted around her. The Turian caught sight of her when she was about twenty yards away and said something rather brusquely to her companions, who were far too slow in reacting as she crossed the remaining distance between them.

"Move." Jane had no time for civility, and judging by the way the female Turian backed up a step with recognition on her face at least one of them recognised exactly who she was.

"Who do you think you are rognash..." Though the translator didn't translate the final word of the Batarian's disgruntled riposte as he finished standing from where he had been playing a game with the human, Jane recognised it well enough as their shortened version of the word bitch, the full word literally translating as 'a woman who is only worthy of breeding with slaves and Varren'.

Rather than respond as the Batarian went into a typical macho power play of drawing his pistol and gesturing it in her direction, Jane merely smiled wolfishly, seemed like she would get a chance to work out some aggression after all.

"Barrash, it's..." The Turian tried to speak up, probably to tell her comrades exactly who he was insulting, but by then the Batarian had pressed the muzzle of his pistol against her head and it was too late.

If she had introduced herself, they probably would have avoided this Jane thought to herself, as she brought up her hand to knock the gun away from her head in the same motion that she slammed her armoured fist into the Batarian's lightly armoured under arm. But sometimes there was a need to let loose, and remind some idiots that they are no-where near the top of the food chain, and given the way the Batarian crumpled like a rag doll that was very much the case.

"You..." Whatever the human was going to say was cut short as she spun full circle to give him a spinning roundhouse kick that lifted him straight off his feet and slamming into the door they were meant to be guarding.

Finishing her spin by slamming her knee into the Batarian's face as he tried to recover from her first attack, Jane was surprised to hear the clatter of a weapon hitting the floor off to her right, and as her gaze turned to the sound of the noise she found the Turian with hands in the air and assault rifle on the floor.

"They didn't pay me to take on a Spectre..." Though she was clearly nervous Jane was happy to see that the Turian had enough common sense to realise that she wasn't going to be able to win this fight.

"Good call." The Batarian was groaning un-comprehensively on the floor, whilst the human seemed to have been knocked out from her single strike, and though they were gathering a crowd it seemed enough people recognised her that they weren't calling C-Sec just yet.

'Two guys in three blows, wait until I tell Naru... Damn it girl, eyes on the prize.' The fact she wanted to boast to the young ninja, even with everything that had happened recently, was not something she needed muddying her thoughts right now.

"Any more guards inside?" The question was one she wouldn't normally ask, but right now she didn't have a team to provide back up in case things went badly.

"None that I know of, it's a fairly small clinic, but other than these two ruffians I've never interacted with anyone inside, Barrash always insisted he dealt with our employer." Good enough for now, though it did now leave her with a bit of a quandary in case the Turian or one of the others did decide to call for back up whilst she was inside.

She had been frustrated with things, even before they had arrived back on the Citadel, the events on Eden Prime catapulting her into this mess of politics, ancient myths and genocidal robots far faster than she could emotionally deal with. Not that she would ever admit that out loud, the last thing she needed was her team starting to doubt, either her leadership or themselves.

"Damn it, pick your gun up and find something to restrain these two with. Then keep the crowd away, I have a call to make." To the Turian's credit she didn't so much as flinch at the rather brusque order, grabbing her assault rifle from the floor before moving into the little structure to the side of the door that must serve as a gatehouse.

Turning away and stepping towards the door, Jane brought up her omni tool display and scrolled through the features to find what was she was looking for, the comm piece in her ear making the 'click' noise of a call being initiated. As the ringing noise began, Jane started modifying the email from the Illusive man, leaving only the bare bones of the information and a single picture in the email she was preparing.

"Shepard, good to hear from you. I heard there was a break in on the Normandy, did you catch the perpetrator or do you want me to alert the Executor that we need to start a man-hunt? Don't tell me it was Naruto doing another test!" Despite her aggravation at the way the day had gone, so much of her past and the insecurities that came with it being stirred together in a giant pot, Captain Anderson's voice brought a slight smile to her face.

The fact that such a manhunt would have cost every dreg of influence the man had on the Citadel didn't bother him for a moment, he would gladly sacrifice that to protect his people as he viewed the crew of the Normandy.

"No need, we caught the perpetrator, though I do have a favour to ask..." Now she just had to work out how to ask the man for support without making it sound like she didn't trust her own team...

[]{}#%^*+=

"I know it is a lot to take in Ino-chan..." Naruto trailed off as he sat awkwardly next to the Normandy med-bay bed that he had transferred Ino to via clone the moment he realised how far the scary Ji-san's reach potentially extended.

The fact that the Ji-san had known such about him and his abilities meant that the Alliance was compromised, not that such a fact particularly surprised him anymore. Jiraiya had been adamant that telling more than three people a secret, meant it wasn't a secret any longer. Given he already had a 'soft' enemy in the Council, even if they didn't realise it, Naruto was glad he had kept so much of his history and powers to himself.

The fact that the news was out though meant that the details about Ino's injury, and who she was, wouldn't be far behind. And the number of people that Naruto felt he could trust with her safety were less than double digits if he was being generous, and after the disagreement he and Jane had generosity was not something in his vocabulary right now.

"Shika, he was always such a stubborn Baka..." Ino was taking the news of Shikamaru's death better than someone would normally expect, misty eyed but remarkably controlled, whitened knuckles around rippled sheets the only physical sign of her grief.

But after all they had been through on their original world, the friends they had lost and the torment of losing their lives and world, Naruto wouldn't really call the two of them emotionally stable members of society.

"Ino-chan, I'm so sorry..." Just because she was deadened to the loss didn't make giving the news any easier for him, and just like he had been beating himself up since they had defeated the Thorian, Ino would take a long time to come to terms with the fact that Shikamaru had sacrificed himself for her.

"Hahaha..." The sound of laughter from Ino, as halting as it was given her exhaustion from the surgery, was not what Naruto expected from her following his apology.

Looking up from where he had been awkwardly staring at his clenched crossed hands, Naruto saw Ino wiping a tear that had managed to escape down her cheek, looking at him with a smile that was much more expressive than her childhood smirk.

"Obviously he is still not as big a baka as you Naruto, you haven't changed at all... What are you apologising for this time? Joining a dangerous mission against someone who wants to summon what could well be the robots that destroyed so that you could look for us? The fact that you managed to find me but couldn't save Shika despite the fact he made his decision literally thousands of years ago? Or are you going to try and claim that you are somehow responsible for my latest injury despite being on the other side of a galaxy when it would have happened?"

"So he did that before he woke up here? Good to know the old man hasn't gotten soft on us just due to his old age..." Wrex's voice from behind him made Naruto jump, he had been so focussed on Ino he had somehow missed the door opening, the obvious surprise making Ino's smile widen that little bit more as he spun round to find the wizened Krogan stood at the door with a beaming figure stood next to him.

"Yeah, big brother was all torn up over the fact that I got a small cut whilst he and Dad rescued me and Mum! Not that I care, it gives me a cool scar to show off when I become a mercenary like them!" The young Asari girl was about 4 inches shorter than Naruto was, her skin a dark purple colour apart from a deep red gash on her left cheek, a mass effect round grazing it during her rescue mission.

"Naruto..." Ino's muttered calling of his name was tinged with uncertainty, which reminded Naruto that she still had no idea about the various alien races that populated the Galaxy, something that she was taking quite well given the circumstances.

"Sorry Ino-chan, I suppose we should do some introductions and background on these guys and what else you can expect. The giant lizard is Wrex and he is a Krogan, think warmongering close combat machines that aren't much for talking things out and that is pretty much what I've found thus far..." Wrex growled at the description but gave the Krogan attempt at a friendly wave to Ino, but before Naruto could continue there was suddenly a purple body between him and Ino, literally vibrating in excitement as she unleashed a torrent of words.

"Hi, I'm Nor'alee Verdejs, but you can call me Nora as I know humans struggle with the pronunciation at times, though big brother tells me you and him aren't humans at all. Does that mean you are an awesome space ninja like he is? He says I'm not to speak about it, but I think we are okay aboard this ship right?" Given the 'squirrel in the path of a raiton jutsu' look that Ino was adorning right now, Naruto decided to be gracious and pulled the little purple ball of energy away from her slightly, before chuckling as Nora turned to him with a pout she had obviously spent far too long practicing.

"Sorry about that Ino, Nora still needs to learn how to act around people properly, though it is nice to see she isn't as grumpy as her dad is all the time..." Nora's pout turned into a giggle as Wrex huffed from behind him, but his words had little calming effect on Ino from the looks of it, the girl running through four familiar handsigns before pointing her linked fingers at Naruto insistently as they glowed bright blue with chakra.

"Very brave, for a ningen, she does remember exactly WHOSE head she's creating a conduit to? All I'd need to do was flare my chakra just a little bit..." Kyuubi was in a confrontational mood, he had been since they had encountered the scary Ji-san and Naruto had revealed his 'side' business to Jane, something the kitsune had definitely not agreed with before or after the reveal.

"You do realise I can hear you Kyuubi-san? Of course you do, not important right now..." The feeling of having someone effectively inside his head wasn't exactly new to Naruto, both from his experience with the Kyuubi as well as the prolific use the jutsu had seen during the guerrilla action after the invasion, but as Nora clapped her hands together excitedly he knew it was going to complicate the next few minutes.

"Wow, did big sis just do a spell or something? Nothing seems to have happened... Perhaps it's a summoning spell of some type and takes a while to kick in... Is it for summoning sloths!?" As Nora started darting round the room, no doubt looking for the arrival of these mysterious sloths, Naruto noticed Ino still hadn't calmed down despite establishing the link with him.

'Everything okay Ino-chan? I know Nora's a bit much at first with all the questions, but she doesn't expect you to actually answer most of them..." Or any of them really, given the rather hostile environment she had grown up in, Nora was worryingly used to people ignoring her unless they had to listen...

Ino's face changed for the first time since she had spotted Wrex and Nora at the door, the girl looking at him as if he was crazy before a sudden look of realisation crossed over her face and she threw a frustrated glare in his direction.

'You don't even realise that, unlike you, I can't understand a word they are saying? And here I thought Sakura and I beat the baka out of you...' The silence inside Naruto's head was deafening, for all of three seconds until the awkwardness was broken by the booming laugh of his tenant.

"Hahahaha, you haven't given her a translator brat! That is so embarrassing for you!" With his rapidly returning brain function, Naruto could feel the weight of the spare translator he had gotten from Nirali in the thigh pouch of his armour suit, he had just been so relieved to talk with someone from his home world that it had slipped his mind as they started talking.

"Are you okay big brother? Your face has gone all red all of a sudden, did I say something wrong?" Nora looked absolutely distraught at the idea she had done something wrong, the emotional distress enough to drag Naruto from his embarrassment, leaning down to pat her on the head in what he hoped was encouraging manner.

"It's not you Nora, I just forgot something quite important when introducing you. Can you please give us a minute and then come back? I'm sure Ino will be much happier to see you then." Casting a meaningful look at Wrex, Naruto pushed Nora gently back towards her father, the girl looking like she was about to protest before surprisingly being able to read the tone of the room.

Without another word Wrex and Nora left the room leaving the two of them alone once more, Kyuubi's laughter still ringing in Naruto's mind as he turned back towards Ino with an apologetic look, Ino cancelling the jutsu now they were alone.

"Sorry Ino, I was just so excited to see and speak to you again I completely forgot about it, I have one of these translator things here that I meant to give you..." Reaching for the translator piece, Naruto heard Ino shift on the bed and gasp slightly to herself, dragging his eyes back up in time to see her pull the blanket away to reveal her amputated leg.

"You aren't the only one who forgot things, didn't even remember it was gone until I tried to move it to get out of this... Bed. How, how bad is it?" The slight pause and hitching of her voice, as she reached down to run her hand along the slip of metal plating they had placed along the stump, made Naruto grab her hand reassuringly before she could get anymore worked up over it.

"It was a clean break, given you were in stasis, otherwise it could have been much worse, they have a bunch of pro... prosthetics?" He struggled to remember the word that the doctors had used, but obviously Ino knew more than he did as she nodded in understanding, the shock and rapid adjustment to the rapidly evolving changes to her life causing her to be far quieter than her usual boisterous self.

"Once you have gotten your head round things Ino-chan, Dr Chakwas has said she will take you through the different types, though she says we might need to let the leg settle first. If you want Ino-chan I can tell the others you need some more time..." She shook her head just as he expected, pulling her hand free from his and then holding it out expectantly with her best attempt at a resigned smile on her face.

"We don't have that time right now, especially with the whole 'galaxy destroying robots' you say someone is trying to bring back, and there's the fact that our friends are still out there waiting for us. Now, give me whatever this translator is and explain to me how it works before that little purple Kisame-girl comes charging back in here." It was a front, as much for his benefit as it was for her to calm herself down, but even as he handed the tool over Naruto couldn't help the happy feeling in his chest.

He wasn't alone anymore.

[]{}#%^*+=

"Stupid Cerberus, stupid Alliance, I should have known better..." If being in a fabricated prison cell and stripped of her gear and weapons wasn't enough of a blight on Kasumi Goto's already shit year, then the noises she was hearing from the cell nearby were sufficient by themselves.

Her former target, who had to be Spec Ops given the confidence with which he had stared down a Cerberus kill team, had come by ten minutes ago with a blonde girl in a wheelchair and missing a leg below the knee. She had tried to not let her discomfort at the situation show, imitating her best coy tone as she waved and greeted them. But the girl had merely done three signs in an unfamiliar sign language without a word, and then the two of them had moved further down the block of cells on the cargo ship Spectre Shepard used as a personal inventory whilst 'hunting' around the Galaxy.

There was a minute or two of quiet other than the opening of one of the other cell doors and the buzzing of words too quiet for her to hear, and then the shouting and screaming had kicked off. Whatever they were doing to the woman in the other cell was nothing short of horrific, and Kasumi had the sinking feeling that once they were done she was going to be next.

"Come on Kasumi, think! What have you got that can get you out of this?" It was a bad habit she had kept even with Keiji there, but when you were a master thief who lived in the shadows, if she didn't talk to herself then she'd probably not use her voice for months at a time.

Despite some of the 'situations' she had ended up in over the years, Kasumi never had and never would delude herself into thinking she could somehow overpower the two when they walked in to interrogate her, she wasn't a close combat fighter by any stretch of imagination.

She wasn't much of a fighter at all, she could take down a squad of basic mercs if she needed to with her skills but that was hardly something to write home about, especially given whose ship she was on. If the reports were to be believed, and she had plundered them from the terminal of the human ambassador to be sure they were, most of the people on Shepard's Kill-team could do the same in a fraction of the time.

So that ruled that out as an enticing offer to make, she would do well as part of the team on the ground, but if the Spectre was still out for blood than that wouldn't be enough by itself. Given the fact they had caught her the offer to act as their counter-intelligence officer probably wouldn't hold much weight either, though from what her target had said in the restaurant she had gotten past the rest of them just not his security measures, so perhaps appealing to him directly on that front would work?

"Assuming he isn't as pissed as Shepard is with Miranda getting away as she did..." It was a pretty miserable thought, that the man might simply be 'interrogating' them to blow off some steam, but it wasn't like Kasumi had much in the way of positives to look for right now as things were.

Her only small ray of hope was that he had brought the woman in the wheelchair with him, Kasumi assumed that she was an interrogator or psychologist of some kind, which he wouldn't have done if he didn't want answers...

Right?

[]{}#%^*+=

"She's remarkably quick on the ball, though she is in no way nearly tough enough mentally for this kind of work." Ino would probably have expanded further from where she and Naruto were watching Kasumi have a minor mental breakdown, if she wasn't having to maintain three different jutsu at once.

The first was the easiest to maintain, a modified genjutsu that was making Kasumi think they were rather brutally interrogating another prisoner and using her and Naruto's minds as a base for when their illusion selves got to dealing with Kasumi. It was the other two that were far more challenging, linking her mind so that she could hear Kasumi's thoughts and another to make the young thief think in Japanese rather than English. It was remarkable that their languages were nearly identical given they were from different planets and times, but it was a poignant kick in the face to Ino all the same.

If Naruto had asked her to interrogate literally anyone else, then Ino would have been useless without performing a full invasive scan of their brain, and even her father was unable to perform those kind of jutsu without some lasting effects on the subject. It was something the Elemental Nations had never had issues with, given that everyone spoke the same language, and until she could pick up the languages even passingly then she wouldn't be able to understand the thoughts she got from her targets.

"Are you okay Ino-chan? I think we have scared her enough that you can drop them now if you want to, no need to tire yourself out if you're still recovering." It was one of the things that she both loved and hated about Naruto, his incessant need to try and look after those around him was touching and infuriating in equal measure.

Still, in this instance he had a point, her chakra felt as lethargic as the rest of her body did and she didn't want to risk chakra exhaustion given the circumstances. Bringing her hands up to form the tiger seal, she cancelled the two jutsu that were allowing her to read Kasumi's thoughts, though she maintained the Genjutsu for the moment to allow them to continue talking in peace.

"True, but do you want to sell the idea just a little more? Just in case she gets stubborn?" Her smile became a little predatory as Naruto turned to look at her a little confusedly, just because she wouldn't be able to use her best techniques didn't mean she couldn't use some of her other skills effectively...

!"£$%^&*()_

The screaming cut off suddenly, and the sudden silence was quite possibly worse to Kasumi's already fragile grip on her composure, and for several minutes she was left with nothing but her own thoughts as she stayed as still as she could so as not to attract attention. Then, with a suddenness that made her jump physically as well as mentally, one of the cell doors was thrown open down the row of cells and a now familiar voice called out.

"Captain, I am going to need two crew to come and deal with clean up here..." The way it was said, with almost a joking tone when the man said 'clean up', made the fear that had been curling uncomfortably in the base of her stomach rear and threaten to take control entirely.

Even with her hearing, that she knew from experience was far better than most humans could claim, she only just made out the man's approach before he appeared outside her cell.

"Sorry about that thief-san, I had to get a little physical..." Her eyes took in the details even as her mind struggled to comprehend the casual way he dismissed what must have been a brutal beating, this man who looked barely old enough to enlist covered in blood despite what was obviously an effort to clean himself up.

Just as she was about to reply, Kasumi saw a pair of humans dressed in similar garb to the man in front of her run past her cell down the corridor, a cry of shock confirming what she had already mentally decided had happened. To her surprise, Naruto stayed silent as she watched them drag a body away, blood dripping and staining the dark steel floor.

"...d-chan, hood-chan, Kasumi!" She could hear what she thought was Naruto speaking to her, but it sounded fuzzy and distorted, and when she finally dragged her attention from the red skid marks outside her cell she found Naruto stood with a bloody knife in his hand.

"Come on thief-san, come and play!" No longer was the face the same as the one she first saw in the restaurant, there was a demented almost crazed grin on his face and a cold fury in his eyes.

"Kai!" There was Naruto's real voice again, though it didn't come from the Naruto in front of her, who raised his knife in fury as a wave of blue energy rolled over her and blasted him back out of the cell.

Then she was aware of someone's hand on her shoulder, and she nearly screamed when she looked up to find Naruto looking down at her, confusion and concern equally visible on his face.

"Hood-chan, whatever you saw just now wasn't real, are you okay?" He released his hand and she scrambled backwards away from him, eyes darting around as she did her best to calm her laboured breathing and get back some semblance of her composure.

It didn't help, though Naruto backing up gently did, as her mind gave up on comprehending what had just room span and the next few minutes became a blur to her, though she made out the arrival of several other people from the various voices that pierced her loose grip on what was going on around her.

"Ino, what hap..."

"Something took the illusion an..."

"What do you mean..."

"The commander needs to..."

As the room stopped spinning enough for Kasumi to get control of her breathing and regain a semblance of control over herself once more, she found herself backed into the corner of her now nearly empty cell, the woman in the wheelchair it only other occupant. She was clearly waiting for Kasumi to calm down, the only change in the woman's otherwise relaxed demeanour the occasional uncomfortable shift, probably due to her injury.

The silence stretched out over what felt like forever, but it seemed to help Kasumi calm down to the point where she felt like vocalising her most important question.

"What the fuck just happened?" Kasumi wasn't normally one to swear, which may as much be due to the fact she rarely talked with anyone other than when it was business related, though she liked to think that it was a solid attempt to maintain one of the few good habits she had left after Keiji died.

In this case though, with whatever hallucinogenic drug they had somehow managed to pump into her system having gone terribly wrong, she felt that letting loose some of the fear and adrenaline that had built up in her system was worth a temporary relaxing of that rule.

"What do you know about Naruto Uzumaki?" The woman seemed to ignore her question, though given it was the man who had just scared 20 years off her life they were talking about Kasumi assumed he might have had something to do with whatever had just happened.

"He has to be at least Spec Ops given his skills, and I know that Cerberus are interested enough in him to try and have me obtain his medical files. His 'history' if you can call it that is patchy at best, any good investigator can tell that he was sprung from somewhere less than a year ago, though given that display I can understand why the Alliance and the Council don't want his work publicised. More importantly, given that I memorised the names and faces of every member of the Normandy's crew as well as Commander Shepard's associates before trying this job, who are you and why are you talking to me instead of the blonde and buff one?"

It wasn't that Kasumi wanted Naruto in here right now, and she suspected that was part of the reason he wasn't there, given the scare she had just had seeing him again would definitely not have gone particularly well. But the woman was a mystery to her, and given the slight wince that was gone in an instant when Kasumi referred to the hallucination, she had something to do with what had just happened.

"My name is Ino Yamanaka, I am one of Naruto's team, or I was before he got the leg up on me..." The attempted joke about her leg was a thin one, but it was clearly meant to help metaphorically disarm the woman from Kasumi's point of view and make her more approachable.

"As much as I want to hear the story of however you got... that, can we please jump to the point where you either ask me for whatever information you want so we can get this over with? I am really not in the mood right now for whatever games you are trying to play." All she wanted right now was a long hot bath, some food and to try and sleep this shitstorm of a day off, and given she wasn't going to get two of them in all likelihood the third would have to do.

"A bath could be arranged, to be honest Naruto only wanted you in here originally so that we could get a read on you and your mindset, we wouldn't want you walking around as a flight risk after all." Ino's, if that was her name, words had Kasumi panicking. Was she so tired that she had said that out loud?"

"It is my real name, given that there are literally no records on me there wouldn't be much point in coming up with a fake name. And you aren't saying anything out loud, I am just trying to prove something to you so that when I explain things you aren't going to start claiming I'm lying..." Kasumi was doing her best to not let the implications of what the woman was saying get to her, but there was no way...

"Yes Ms Goto, I am reading your mind..." Kasumi only hoped that Naruto wasn't watching at that moment, her earlier breakdown had created enough of a bad impression without him seeing her facial expression right now...

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"Agent Von, you have been utilising almost twice your usual level of expenditure this month, and whilst it is still within the agreed limits I have also noticed that you have spent a not insubstantial amount of your own personal income on an upgrade to your security systems. Is there a threat on the Citadel that we need to discuss?" Barla huffed into his ventilator awkwardly, though the moment the Shadow Broker had instructed him by text to stay after the monthly updates of his top operatives it had been obvious that he couldn't hide what was going on.

"Not a threat *cerchk* (Volus breathing noise), but a mercenary decided to try and threaten me personally during a late night negotiation. I have used incentives to hire some 'friends' to make it clear that trying to brute force your way into our business is a bad idea..." Best to make it sound like the matter was in hand, and he hadn't said anything that wasn't true...

"So the mercenary is dead? Or is this related to the rash of dead and crippled bounty hunters I am hearing about on the Citadel..." Damn, Barla should have known he wasn't going to pull one over the Shadow Broker, the man was a legend for a reason after all.

"No, it seems that he is more resourceful than I had originally imagined, and that resourcefulness is racking up more of a body count than I thought one man could rack up in such a short time..." To Barla's surprise the Shadow Broker laughed, quite possibly for the first time Barla could remember, before an alert highlighted a new message on Barla's omni-tool.

"Send me everything you have on this mercenary Agent Von. This sounds interesting enough to warrant some of my personal attention..." And for some reason, despite the fact this problem was no longer his to worry about, the Shadow Broker's interest in this 'Skull' character did nothing to reassure Barla that this was going to make his life any easier...

A/N: Well, it's all slowly starting to come together... Or at least some of the plot lines I have planned are starting to rear their beautiful complicated heads. We have my version of the Mindoir survivor plot line, the logical way of preventing Ino being Deus Ex that I wish I had come up with a couple of chapters earlier, the 'issue' with Kasumi's interrogation and of course a bit more Shadow Broker fun.

Slow going I know, but I have to try and not just copy/paste storylines/decisions from Medic Effect, which is challenging in multiple ways. But I persevere, and I hope everyone has a nice time thinking of where I am going to go next.

Review! Questions, queries and comments are all good little snacks for my imagination. :)