Chapter 2: Digital Jungle, City of Wind

"In this city, no one can hide from me. No one. I wasn't always this guy, they crossed a line, and for that? I will make them pay. I'll turn their city against them."

Aiden Pearce, The Fox

You know what they never tell you when you get on any kind of ship for a space-flight? How long it takes. Seriously. I mean, I guess it didn't take as long as it would to just drive there, which is physically impossible I know, but still, six hours feels like forever. I mean, it's justified in that you basically fly the total surface area of Earth twice when you travel from the Widow relay to the Citadel, but it still feels like forever.

Speaking of, the Citadel, nice place. Sure, I'd been there a few times before for business, and I was stunned and all the first time, but the charm really seems to disappear as you visit again. Or maybe that was just me, considering all the people with smiles plastered on their faces, so excited to visit the Citadel.

But yeah, I guess I can see it. I mean, I did see it before. The four arms that served as the 'surface' of the Citadel looked rather beautiful on approach, kinda like The Arc from Halo 3. Oh wait, nobody in this universe has probably ever heard of that franchise… oh well.

As I approached I got the usual call from C-Sec, or 'Citadel Security' for long. Landing clearances and all that, thankfully I had plenty of time to set up an identity, alibi, reason for being there, etc. All the stuff that they would be interested in.

Oh yeah, I was a baker now, so that's pretty neat.

What? I needed some kind of cover that was about as far from the truth as I could get, and it sounded like the most reasonable of things I could pick from. Since, you know, I had to choose from a pool of people who were to be expected at the Citadel in my timeframe.

Docking on a level near the Presidium, which was of course where I would be staying, I rose from my seat and walked out to the air-lock. Waiting through the lengthy pressurization/decontamination procedures one must always go through upon landing.

Let me tell you, I really love the Citadel. Not for any of the stuff you can do here, for the people, for any of the things you can see or buy, no. I love it for a completely other reason that requires a short explanation.

As I'm sure you can understand, my choice of attire isn't exactly common anymore, what with alien fashion and all that. So, the solution to this was to make a cloak of some kind, however, that had its own disadvantages, such as lighting up like a Christmas tree under EM monitors, as well as taking a lot of power to maintain the light-bending field.

So, I can up with a solution of my own. You see, practically everywhere in this galaxy has some kind of holographic projectors in use, from street signs to newscasts. Using my amazing ingenuity, I tapped into these and used them to project a seamless disguise over myself. Either some random guy, or an appearance fitting the identity I was currently using.

The downside, of course, was that increasing both the distance and complexity of the projection would do one of two things; either short circuit the controls, making the whole thing just fall apparent, or it would burn out the projector, which did basically the same thing.

It was why I didn't use this new feature of my hacking skills that much, there weren't enough hologram projectors in a close enough area for it to be effective, the Citadel solved that problem.

So yeah, that's why I love it here, I can walk around and do whatever I like and nobody would be able to point me out in a lineup, plus, there was no telltale give-away, like a shimmer in the air or big glowing outline over EM.

Speaking of doing stuff, I was feeling hungry and just remembered that I hadn't eaten in two days, considering all the things that had been going on. So, I decided to find one of the nicer Italian restaurants on the Presidium, because we humans have good food, and I could afford it due to my constant thieving.

I could also instantly get myself a reservation for said Italian restaurant, yet another perk of being a hacker in the future.

Ah, a good dinner.. or was it lunch… whatever, a good meal is the perfect way to start one's foray into a new 'world' as it were. Considering this was my first time I would be staying on the Citadel for a long period of time.

Next step was to check on my new home and see if all my shit had been delivered. A risky move, if you were a failure like I wasn't. Also, it's actually less suspicious if you hire people to move your shit, you know, act like a normal person who just moved to the Presidium.

So, I was casually walking across whatever you call the Presidium's main yard, following a map projected onto my eyes by the same projectors that created my 'disguise' very useful, let me tell ya.

On another note, this place was fucking big. Like, seriously big, I was glad to have this map or else I probably would have gotten lost due to the sheer size of the place. Nonetheless, I eventually made my way to the elevator that led to the upper class living places.

I never should have gotten in that elevator. I kid you fucking not, it took thirty minutes to get to my floor, thirty minutes for the most technologically advanced elevator to move up four floors! And you know, I could've hacked it to go faster, but there was a C-Sec guard riding with me, so I couldn't do fuck all.

At least the guy understood my burdened sigh as I got out of the lift, replying with a sympathetic nod and a sigh of his own as he waited for the doors to close. On another note, my 'floor' was a rather nice place, I was currently looking at a small park which seemed to be the centerpiece of the space.

I knew I had chosen the right housing when I saw the pictures of the level and the house, speaking of the house, I set off for it. Getting there required climbing quite a few stairs, maybe this wasn't the best of decisions.

As I pushed open the door to my new home, after entering a rather lengthy start-up code, I was rather happy to find that my new home would not be some concrete-walled box, like the Bunker and my Omega set-up were.

No, instead as I walked through the door I was greeted by a short, quaint hallway that led out into a large open-concept room with light hard wood flooring, a wonderful deep blue carpet, cream colored walls, and a floor to ceiling window overlooking the Presidium's park. The room was also furnished was a rather large vid screen, set into the wall, and some plush couches and chairs strewn about, the one facing the screen had what looked to be a mahogany coffee table in front of it, too.

To say I was just happy would have been an understatement. No, I wasn't happy, I was ecstatic. This place was the nicest that I had, or probably ever would, live in. Sad thing was, good things don't last, and as soon as I finished what I came here to do, or Cerberus came knocking, I would have to leave.

Pushing aside those dreary thoughts I moved past the living room through a wider little hall which opened up to the kitchen, and had a staircase in it's side. The kitchen was what you'd expect, a nice, moderately sized, clean area with all the fancy amenities that some big wig on the Citadel would want.

Turning off before I reached it, I instead traveled up the stairs, of which there were an average amount, at least I think it was an average amount, I didn't count or anything.

Reaching the top revealed yet another hallway, this one had two doors along it's length, presumably a closet and a bathroom, before making a turn to the right, walking down it I stepped around the corner and saw that at the end was an office, with quite a few of my boxes piled in it, on the left wall was the bathroom for the second story, and on the right was my master bedroom.

As you might have guessed, I went straight for the office and begun unpacking all my stuff.

Three hours later and my setup was completely unpacked and running, it might seem like a long time, but considering all the stuff I had three hours was actually pretty good.

Anyway, I was already working on collection what information I could, dirty little secrets, passwords to stuff, bank codes, all the kinds of stuff that could keep me afloat as well as give me an 'in' to any databases that Cerberus might have their stuff in, lucky for me they weren't as impenetrable as they thought.

That being said, I still hadn't gotten anything off them yet, but hey, things like this take time and I did only just get here, I'd say the few million credits I'd accumulated was a good start, anyway.

That reminded me, I still had to send Garrus a little 'Thank you' message, one that may or may not contain several thousand illegally acquired credits, and maybe some stock in a promising eezo mining company, yeah, that was a thank you enough.

_/|

Author's Notes: Firstly, I would like to apologize for the sheer amount of time this chapter has taken, even though not all that much happens in it. I'm very sorry, but I'm just quite terrible sometimes when it comes to time.

I would like to say, it hasn't entirely been my fault. After all, I do try to make an amazing piece of work every chapter for my dear readers, and that means I send it through quite a few people, because quality over quantity is my philosophy when it comes to writing.

I also have school work and such things as that, what with the holidays coming on I've family obligations, but due to a week vacation I shall try and get more work done. Rest assured, my devoted readers, this story shall go on.

I would also like to mention since so far I have not done so, and every other fanfiction author seems to; both Watch_Dogs & Mass Effect are owned by their respective company, and though I would dearly wish to, I am not included in the ownership lists.

As always, feel free to ask any questions/ offer any suggestions that you'd like to, I do read all of them. Happy Thanks Giving, and a Merry Christmas!