Sorry for the long wait, guys. Here ya go :D Oh and please review!

Chapter V:

That's the first challenge? That's his security purpose?

I let out a disappointed sigh. I had hoped for a more challenging question, especially since it was Hypnos' only form of security—though however easy it was, it was still quite shrewd and it left questions that would give me a lot of migraines if I try to come up with satisfactory answers. Well, there's always time for answers later after I organized my plans and schemes for my . . . career. Any information broker worth his salt would have solid plans and schemes other than information, most prominent of those are plans for security and that's what I want to establish first. There's a reason why I—or every hacker/information broker for that matter—have a very acute paranoia; it keeps us on our toes, and more importantly, it keeps us breathing air.

I immediately consulted Hypnos' vast database, hands blazing over the orange glow of the haptic interface. The geeky part of me still squeals in delight over that. The said console is merely a high-tech keyboard, same keys and same form though the color, obviously, is different and thus I find no difficulty in using it. The first thing I looked for were the basic infos I need, such as date and location. I'd look at the galaxy's political landscape later on, I'm sure it would give me a lot of headaches and I don't need stress for now.

I brought up the galaxy map in the huge holographic projector and looked at the map's legends. It says that my location would be marked by a glowing white . . . butterfly? Goodness gracious! This guy's taking his theme and motif a little bit too far! Hmmm. Speaking of themes and motifs, looks like I need one myself, probably as flamboyant or more flamboyant than Hypnos'. I'll think of it later, I'm not a vain man after all.

Okay, I am a vain man but at least I can curb it down to tolerable levels.

Shelving those thoughts for later, I turned to look at the galaxy map and true enough a glowing white butterfly can be found in the star cluster known as Phoenix Massing, in a certain star system known as the Sea of Storms—name's quite poetic if I may say. I narrowed my eyes, that particular name rings a bell. Something important is in this slice of the milky way perhaps? I zoomed towards the star cluster and I can't help but widen my eyes at my—and whatever-this-place-I'm-currently-on's—position.

If my eyes aren't tricking me, that damn butterfly is in a position that is uncomfortably close to a certain Haratar, or in other words, Heretic Station; that certain geth station that's the main focus in Legion's loyalty mission. I checked the exact distance to make sure that their sensors or radar or whatever it is they used to detect stellar objects with can't detect me. I sighed in relief when I saw that whatever it is I'm on is barely out of reach of the station's sensors. Barely, because this base/ship is apparently skirting just outside the heretic station's range, I nearly got a heart attack when I saw that I'm just a few hundred kilometers away from the sensory range.

Good thing that I don't have to worry about the geth spotting where I am. If memory serves me correctly, Legion said something about the geth not having windows because of structural integrity. The geth are funny like that.

Still, there might be another reason why the geth aren't attacking. Part of being an information broker is learning. Having certain knowledge about certain people and certain events could be a very potent weapon actually. Blackmail and other nasty stuff like that. This is obviously a given among hackers and information brokers. We take our sweet time in studying the matters that we are paid to … research. Looking at the information we've dug up in every possible angle and finding ways that makes the deal with the current employer into a win-win situation for us information brokers. That's why I have a pretty unsavory reputation back in the old days; hackers and information brokers are never trustworthy in the eyes of the general public and even in the criminal underground and the black markets. Now in this case, having knowledge about the flashlight heads behavior may save my worthless hide and Morgana is one, and currently my only valid source of knowledge

… Speaking of Morgana, well I nearly forgot that I'm not the only in this place—Okay, scratch that, I totally forgot about her.

I was about to turn around to ask her but as soon as I turned around, I know that I couldn't ask her right away. A violet blur slammed into my poor scrawny body, sending me sprawling towards the steel floor—again—quite painfully. Wincing at the impact I trained my eyes to hers, which held a fierce light that practically shouted DIE to the poor fellow that happened to look at said eyes.

Poor fellow happened to be yours truly.

She was practically on top of me, and I'm hoping that she wasn't because I'm ruthlessly squashing the perverted part of my mind. Not an easy job, mind you, but I think I managed. She was holding my collar with one hand and the other was poised to punch me. Her legs were on top of my arms, pinning me completely. Everything was deathly still to my eyes. Anticipation is riling up. And my body is uneasy as my mind is stupidly thinking how she got that body figure of hers.

Still looking at her silently furious face, I quelled my restless thoughts with calmness. Like usual, my mind and my smart mouth are my only weapons in this situation and I intend to use the both of them. So I need to be as perfectly calm as possible. Calmness is a must.

"How did you know?" was her question.

Despite the situation, I smirked. A wry smirk. "It's not so difficult actually"

I didn't see her fist, but I felt it on my right cheek as my head whipped to the left due to her strength.

"I'll feel that tomorrow morning" I muttered.

"You didn't answer my question" she hissed, fist at the ready. "I asked how?!"

"Stop punching, please?" I muttered while moving my hurt jaw. "I'm not a masochist, y'know"

Her eyes narrowed, "What's a masochist?"

Oh you have got to be kidding me. "Well, a masochist is a—Woah! Woah! Okay, okay I'll answer the question!" I hate my smart mouth. It gets me into lots and lots of trouble, but what can I do? It's the closest thing I've got for a natural defense mechanism and truth be told, it's effective. Well, most of the time.

I glanced at Morgana, the woman was still waiting for my answer. "The answer is on your skin actually"

"My . . . skin?" she looked unconvinced.

I nodded, "Unless you can convince me otherwise, those weird lines seems vaguely reminiscent of circuitry and other techie stuff"

She's still apparently unconvinced, a fact made obvious to me by her prepared, still-clenched fist. Yet she also doesn't look totally unconvinced, she was frowning and to me it looks like she's actually pondering the validity of my words. Not that that's a good thing, she may consider all the things I've said as nonsense and it'll probably end with poor ol' me with bruises. If I'm not dead that is. Silence reigned as Morgana just glared at me, her fist still cocked back and ready to deliver a painful jab whenever she wants to, whenever she decides that I lied. As such, this particular silence is a terse and utterly uncomfortable silence.

"I . . . I don't understand" she said, finally ending the silence. "You say the truth yet I find your answer . . . improbable"

Morgana finally stood up from the uncomfortable—in more ways than one—position she subjected me to. I didn't realize that I was holding my breath as I exhaled with relief and stood from the ground a bit awkwardly, caressing my right cheek in the process. That was one wicked punch, which says a lot considering that she's not even supposed to have a body. That little fact told me a lot about this being that's called Morgana.

"I apologize for my actions" she said, "You must understand that my . . . kind, are viewed with hostility throughout the galaxy"

I raised one good brow. "Do not apologize, Morgana. What you did was justified" I sheepishly rubbed my hurting cheek, "In a sense"

"But still …" she looked skeptic for a moment, "How? How did you know that I am an A.I"

Ah. That's why she's skeptic.

"Unshackled A.I, you mean" I replied with a sly grin. Her skepticism turned into full blown surprise upon hearing those words come out from my lips.

"H-How?" she stuttered, still quite shocked.

"The way you talk and the way you reacted just now" I answered, "A.I's tend to be more … bland in nature"

Which is true, EDI in the second game started as a very plain and straight character with no personality at all. She only became what she is on the third game with the help of Joker and the commander. Speaking of whom, I wonder what Shepard looks like? Hell, I don't even know Shepard's gender yet. Oh well, with the information in my hands, there's bound to be a detailed profile about the not-yet-commander Shepard.

"So" she started, "How did you know that I'm an unshackled A.I?"

"The answer to your question might not be too believable" I said while sheepishly scratching my head. Then I noticed her giving me quizzical looks. "I'll tell you some other time, okay?"

I could tell just by her body language and her expressions that she was about to reply but decided against it, obviously letting the matter drop … for now.

…

Hypnos was quite a colorful character.

His skill in the information trade was undeniably the best I've ever encountered in my whole life. I was a bit skeptical when he—or rather his hologram—told me that he could stand toe to toe with this universe's best guy in the business of trading information but the files in his database …

What was it that Liara T'Soni said in the Shadow Broker DLC? She could start a war in ten minutes? Hypnos could start a war in seconds and start it in a way that would make peace seem like a crazy idea. It would only seem like a favorable solution if they found a scapegoat, in that case Hypnos, but the asshole also has a contingency plan for that. Before I've read this guy's files, I would've never thought that keeping the public ignorant to one's reputation would be a profitable one but he managed to pull it off. How? Well he limits his clients to people that could really pay and he also played everything safe. He was like me in that sense. I don't like getting surprised and I don't want risks of any kind, I try to avoid taking them if I have the chance. I was glad that I had the option to play this business as safe as possible … but there was one tiny problem.

Most, if not all, of Hypnos' former clients had jumped to the Shadow Broker's ship and I wouldn't be surprised if one of them helped that yahg in defeating the guy. To put it simply, Hypnos' network crashed down after his death, which means that I have to rebuild—or rather build my own intelligence network from the ground up. I know that it would probably take months of non-stop work to even have a functional intelligence network and functional doesn't mean safe nor was it effective. To make matters worse, I have no doubts that the Shadow Broker knows of his rival's resurgence. This two had a war waged with viruses, assassinations and a whole lot of subterfuge, I held no illusions that I can keep my network hidden from the Shadow Broker's many eyes when the time comes. A man dealing with secrets knows how to unravel secrets.

With these thoughts on my mind, I started my work.

Now where can I get one of those fancy suits of his …