A/N: Finally had time to finish this between working on my degree, life seems to find a way to get in front of me writing this story, but I haven't lost my drive to write it so I hope you'll continue to stick around while I try and power through everything.

Intermission II: Taskmaster

"That's just fucking perfect." I whispered as I turned the corner, an oddly familiar sight coming into view as I entered into a courtyard of the lower wards.

The words 'Chora's Den' were displayed prominently in a garish fashion above the door to the establishment, a nude Asari portrayed in an outline of too bright neon lights that occupied the wall beside the door.

The courtyard I'd walked into wasn't particularly busy, but it wasn't empty either; a few gang members were loitering in one of the corners, occasionally glancing up from their omnitools as movement caught their eyes, a drunken Turian was passed out against the wall while a Human vomited beside him. The bass of the music was oppressively loud, even from where I stood on the other side of the open space, not even in the club yet.

I sighed as I pulled the hood on the jumper I was wearing down and took a step forwards, reluctantly making my way across the courtyard. It was so far removed from the Citadel that gets presented by the Presidium, and even the games to an extent that I completely forgot I was on the wretched station.

I could feel the eyes of those present (and conscious) watching me as I journeyed to quite possibly the last place I wanted to be right now. I half expected most of the first game's cast to show up, Harkin and General Oraka to spring at me out of nowhere and slur sleazy lines or complain about how the consort wasn't available for a relationship.

The bouncer on the door was, somewhat surprisingly, a human, although he was at least a foot taller than I and muscled like a brick shithouse. He glanced up at me from the spot he was looking on the ground with a glazed look in his eye and nodded his head to the door which I took as my cue to go in.

The inside of the "gentlemen's" club was fairly similar to the one shown ingame, although the space itself was far larger, which meant there were more tables and dancers than what I remembered there being. A familiar Turian face appeared beside the Krogan bouncer at the back of the room, and I made my way around the bar to get there, turning down several dances and pausing for a moment before I got in the way of a small tiff which ended the moment a Krogan security began to approach the two Humans and the mostly naked Asari they were fighting over.

"Let him through." I heard the Agent say as I neared them, the Krogan sizing me up before stepping aside with a slight snort. "Ignore him, he's just doing his job." she added as I rolled my eyes, walking past the Krogan and doing just that.

"Why are we doing this again? And why here, of all places?" I asked her, the details from the datapad coming to mind. I knew why, and the reasoning behind it was sound, but I wasn't sure why we were doing it now as opposed to before.

And the here remained a total unknown.

"Because we need to know that no information can be forced out of you. We've seen your medical report." She added as I glanced at her with an eyebrow raised. "We're doing it here because the broker wants this to stay out of hospital records, and there's a clinic nearby with a doctor the broker trusts to be discreet."

The Turian woman led me through into the rear of the club as she spoke, Fist's private office coming into view as the door slid open. It was easy to see that the room had been shuffled to make room for a load of medical equipment, which also came with an Asari doctor who the club owner was currently ogling unsubtly.

"Ah, you're here." The doctor spoke as we entered, sounding relieved for something to happen so she could escape Fist's obviously lustful gaze. It's not like she wasn't attractive, but most Asari were to some degree. "You must be Greg."

"In the flesh." I returned with a short wave of a hand. "So how are we doing this? Just on the floor... or?" The doctor laughed lightly as I gestured to the floor around me in jest.

"Just take a seat and we'll begin." She turned to the equipment in the room, picking up a few pads and turning on some of the machines which produced a low whine as they became active, the vibrating thrum still felt through the muted bass coming from the club.

"Finally." Fist spoke up from behind his desk, his gruff voice breaking through the sound of scraping as I pulled the chair across the floor. "I don't want you people here any longer than you have to be."

"Don't forget who set you up here, 'Fist'. It wouldn't be hard for him to take it away again." The crime boss shrank considerably at the Agent's reminder that he had been nothing without the Broker, and I began to wonder how that deal went down.

Still though, I could understand the sentiment from Fist, I wouldn't want Broker agents using my office as a makeshift ward either, but the way that he was talking made it seem as though he thought he actually had a mote of authority over what happened here, despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary.

So, while I glanced at the 'mob boss', I didn't pay him too much mind, taking the doctor's advice and grabbing a chair of my own. It was one of the several faux leather chairs near the wall, the material made soft from use, and I sank into its comfort before leaning back, taking advantage of a slight recline created by the cushioning. The Asari doctor came into view once I was settled, and began to scan me with her omnitool before placing nodes around my skull and attaching two slightly larger plates to my temples.

"Ok, I'm just going to turn the machine on. Let me know if you feel any pain during the test." She turned away for a moment, her omnitool glowing over something before a slight buzz filled the air and a low static charge began to build itself up around me.

The hairs on my arms had begun to raise themselves, but there wasn't any pain yet… if anything it was almost relaxing to simply lay back and feel the odd sensation.

That all changed as soon as the first current passed through the plates on my head, a wave of biotic energy flowing into my brain. Almost the instant it had begun, the pain became unbearable, darkness began to creep in around the edges of my vision, my breath became short as a strangled noise escaped my throat, something wet and warm trickled from my ears, my nose leaking more body fluids.

The next thing that I understood was the cool touch of metal on my chest. The beeping of a heart monitor coming from nearby, and the light blinding me through my eyelids.

As soon as I tried moving an involuntary groan forced its way out of my throat as my head throbbed dangerously. It was like waking up from the worst hangover of my life but without any of the enjoyment that might have made it easier to bear. It was a not so painless reminder of the first time I'd woken up in this universe.

"I've got to say, I've never seen a case as bad as this. The reports are definitely correct, this man has floating mind. The thing that did this to him… I shudder to think." I could hear the voice of the Asari doctor, although the sound was slightly muffled.

"Well as unpleasant as this turned out to be I thank you for your help doctor. The Broker wouldn't want to have his investment die before the exchange could be completed." The Broker agent replied, relief colouring her tone slightly.

"Don't move too quickly there." The doctor called as I began to sit back up from where I'd slumped in the chair. A damp towel had been placed over the armrest, and as I picked it up to wipe the sweat from my forehead I saw that it had already been used to clean up a fair amount of blood if the red stains were anything to go by.

I stared at the red for a little bit, then chose a clean part of the towel to wipe my face with.

The doctor collected her equipment while I recovered, removing the metal plates from around my skull as she offered a large glass of water to me that I gratefully gulped down after giving my thanks. Both for the water, and for not killing me. She gave me a weary smile and departed with some of the equipment through a back door, a few of Fist's men coming to help her move the rest.

"Well, I suppose now that that unpleasantness is out of the way we can get down to business." The Turian agent made her way to a chair opposite my own as I felt myself begin to normalise again, the pounding in my chest and skull dying down a bit as I got control over my still unsteady breathing.

"The Broker has deemed this task as suitable payment for the information we gave in good faith." A datapad was tossed to me from Fist as he sat behind his desk, an annoyed look on his face.

Then again, I'd probably be annoyed too if some stranger bled all over my nice chair.

"The details are on there, but to give you a brief run down, you will be heading out to Illium to gather information on multiple targets." The agent paused for a moment while I looked down at the datapad, recognising two of four sigils.

"That's the Eclipse, the Blue Suns, I don't recognise the other two." It was evident I was going to be looking into merc outfits, gathering information on them - whether that included their leadership remained to be seen, although I doubted there was much left of the Suns to investigate given what I'd heard on the news. Still though, the other two sigils intrigued me; the first was an odd Turian looking design done in matte grey, something like a pair of crossed daggers. The second was a slashing rune, maybe Batarian.

"The True Sons. Based on Omega, of course, they were beholden to the Blue Suns for a variety of reasons, but were largely used as a front to disrupt rival operations, particularly the Eclipse. They've mostly disappeared for the moment, but they have a history of bouncing back after nearly being exterminated. They have a few strongholds left on Illium around Karshan minor." She spoke as I skimmed through the files, the true Sons had taken very heavy losses from the fourth group on my list, House Shaaryak, right up until the Blue Suns had fallen apart.

"House Shaaryak are a prominent Highborn Batarian family in the merchant caste, and the only family of ranking to operate outside of the Hegemony. Xerol, the house Patriarch, recently passed away and frustratingly little is known about his niece and how she will act in the coming months. I'm sure you can figure out what we want you to do."

"Sure." I replied, finally tearing my eyes away from the 'detailed' briefing in my hands. "They're all on Illium bar the Blue Suns from what I know, I'll need some time to work on them."

"When will you be ready to leave?" The agent asked in a polite tone that suggested the answer should be sooner rather than later.

"Will I be able to bring a team?" I queried, not particularly wanting to head to Illium of all places, on a mission for the Shadow Broker, without any backup. I didn't know much about the real Illium, but what little I'd heard suggested that the games had vastly understated how screwed up the place was.

"Of course." She replied easily with a slight wave of her hand.

"I'll need a day or two to prep, is that acceptable?" The agent merely nodded her head and rose. I followed suit, turning and heading for the exit to Fist's office.

"Finally, some peace and goddamn quiet." He 'muttered' none too quietly before we left the room.

What an ass.

I decided to walk the journey back after saying my goodbyes to the agent. The travel time would let me think about what I'd need, the sort of preparations I'd need to make. I didn't doubt that this was going to be a long, arduous assignment, and I was under no illusions that the Broker would simply call it quits once I'd done my part.

Still though, I was looking forward to doing something, getting off this wretched station and finding some sort of direction that I could take. The Matriarch was still the grand prize, but she wasn't going anywhere any time soon, of that I was sure. That meant that I had time to try and resolve my relationship with the Broker, maybe improve my skills a bit, maybe find some more allies.

But for now, I had a job to do. We'd need weapons, that was certain, provisions wouldn't need to be accounted for at first, not if we were on Illium. Money was a resource we needed an abundance of, no doubt about that.

A quick check of my account showed that the money I'd given to Barla Von had almost increased five-fold already. It was a good start, enough of a war chest to upgrade our equipment, or to find a cheap apartment or hotel once we made it to Illium.

I'd also need to check with Jun if he or Hock had made any progress on the cloaking units the Asari had used at the fundraiser. If we could get some of those in working condition it would make things a lot easier - even if they only worked for brief periods of time, infiltrating strongholds would be far simpler than they would be otherwise.

And then I thought about who would want to come.

Sure, we were a team so I could have said everyone, but I knew that that wouldn't be the case. I'd gotten myself into this situation, and I was sure one or two of the guys would leave me to get myself out of the hole I was in, but it wasn't certain.

James would likely come with me, he always seemed to perk up when there was a mission to do, although being an N6 probably had something to do with that. Val would come with me if I asked her, although with how things stood between us there was a small part of me that believed she would say no. Sel would come for the debauchery most likely, which brought a small smile to my face.

Sibus and Blueberry would want something to do, so I'm sure they'd appreciate the offer, likewise with Jun. Guy however would most likely to me to go fuck myself.

I pushed the thought aside and thought about the kind of ordinance we should bring. Nothing too heavy, we weren't going to go exterminate entire districts on Illium, but I wanted to be able to comfortably fight a heavily armed group such as the Blue Suns or Eclipse considering they were on my list.

My surroundings became less and less craven as I walked, returning more to the city-scape that it truly was as opposed to the slum-like areas of the lower wards. Rather than stay on the main run, I swerved down a currently empty side-street that would cut the travel time down by few minutes.

I was about half-way into the alley when an Asari rounded the corner I was walking towards, her demeanor one of annoyance, but I continued onwards warily. I didn't really want to get mugged today, if that was what was even about to happen.

A quick check behind me confirmed my suspicions that something was up, as the P.I. woman that kept following me had shown up, blocking the way behind me somewhat. That identified the Asari ahead as her partner.

I sighed quietly to myself, feeling my body go slightly limp at the thought of how my day was turning out.

"Could always be worse." I muttered quietly to myself as I began to near the approaching alien. As I moved to get around her she placed an arm out in front of me to block my path.

"Look, I really don't have time for whatever this is." I pushed her arm down out of the way so that I could move past, at which point she began glowing with biotic power, her other hand snapping up, pressing on my chest as she forced me into the wall.

"We just have some questions for you." She said with an icy tone. She clearly didn't like me, but I don't remember doing anything to her - besides possibly botching up an investigation, but I didn't see why she would be quite so vicious towards me.

"What do you want?" The words were terse, and I could feel my alter begin to stir under the surface. I didn't particularly want him to come out right now, it hadn't been all too long since I'd shut him away, and I quite liked having control over my own body.

"Why were you following Ceil Drimi?" The human woman asked, now having caught up to us both. Her voice had a professional edge to it, although she couldn't have been much older than I was... and I was barely old enough to be considered an adult myself. "Before you say anything we know it was you, don't even try to deny it."

"Somebody asked me to. What's it to you?" I answered as best I could without giving anything away and trying not to seem too defensive.

She crossed her arms, clearly not impressed. "You got in the way of our investigation and tipped off our suspect that we were onto her, all of the evidence that we were gathering was removed or is now inconsequential, all thanks to you."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but it's not my problem." I removed the Asari's hand from my chest, trying to keep control over the internal situation as my alter began to itch my subconscious. She let me move her limb but didn't back off, staying annoyingly, threateningly close.

"Who asked you to look into her? You're not a licensed investigator, and you got in the way of a C-sec sanctioned operation." The human of the pair continued. Her voice was emotionless as she spoke, although there was a gleam in her eye that almost seemed desperate.

Not that I could say for sure though… nor did I have any idea why she'd feel that way.

"Why should I tell you that?" I responded, incredulity colouring my voice. "All you've done since then is tail me, and now you're trying to threaten me in a back alley." If looks could kill, I'd probably be dead. The Asari of the pair had narrowed her eyes and a snarl started to form just as her biotics were beginning to manifest themselves.

Predicting the strike that was coming as she lunged at me, I sidestepped and watched her fist strike the wall behind me, a clang of metal sounding beside me as I ducked under a second swing, redirecting the blow to the side… and straight into the human woman who had edged forwards, either to grab me or restrain her partner, I wasn't sure.

Unfortunately for her the punch was level with her face, which meant that the Asari's fist collided with her nose in a shower of blood. The Asari's face immediately turned from rage-filled to horrified as her compatriot crumpled under the blow, unable to stop her falling to the floor in a heap.

Despite the heavy blow, it could have been a lot worse. The Asari had obviously been trained at some point in her life as the biotic force had lessened once she had realized that the attack had missed.

"Jesus were you going to try and kill me?" I asked in mild disbelief as I unslung the bag that I usually carried with me and pulled out a medigel pack and some gauze from a first aid kit I carried with me in one of the smaller pouches.

"Here." I moved the Asari aside and wiped away the blood with the gauze.

"If you hurt her…" The threat from above and behind made me pause wiping to raise an eyebrow at the Asari.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You're the one that just broke the poor girl's nose." I shook my head as I resumed cleaning the wound. The woman stirred under my motions and I knew that she was regaining consciousness. "She'll have a concussion. Just take it easy with her."

I didn't bother staying for thanks, it wasn't as though I'd get any, but at least they'd hopefully stop tailing me while I was on station. At the very least they didn't make any motion to follow, and the rest of the return journey passed without incident, although I was much more on edge than I would have been otherwise.

Still, I sort of knew who they were now. Actual private investigators who were half decent if the C-sec sanction meant anything. By the time I'd returned to the house I'd already planned on finding out what I could about the pair on my downtime. If they were so adamantly interested in me I could at least figure out who they were themselves.

"Ah, Greg, you're back. Good." Victus called to me as I strode in through the door. Guy and Sibus were in the front room, quietly working on something on their omnitools while Sel'ama and Berrilius were lounging in front of today's clawball fixture.

"Hey Victus, things been busy?" I headed over to the ancient Turian and thanked him for a drink that he passed.

"Not overly so. You look like you've had a bit of a rough day?" He probed, the line of questioning threw me slightly, although I supposed that the events of the day were probably showing on my person as bright as the garish sign at Chora's Den.

"Sort of. The pad was a summons from the Broker, although I'm sure you already knew that. They tested me for floating mind using some sort of eezo machine… and I definitely have it. The thing might've killed me if it was on any longer than it was." I paused to gauge his reaction to the news that I'd almost died, again, today but he said nothing, only a slight quiver of his mandibles betraying a moment of sympathy. "And then the investigators that have been following me the past week showed up. Tried to ask me a load of stuff about what I was up to the other week."

"I trust you didn't give them anything useful?" It was reassuring to know that the old man was on my side, although I supposed that would only be as long as I continued to make what he thought were the best decisions that I could.

"No, no, they didn't get anything out of me. Although one of them did end up with a broken nose." I gestured down the front of my clothing. "Hence… although some of it might also be mine from the test."

"You know, attacking any sort of law enforcement is a sure way to get yourself locked up." Guy droned from where he sat, his tone slightly mocking.

"I never touched her, the Asari tried to hit me when I made to leave, I moved out the way and she hit her partner. I gave her some medigel and cleaned her up a bit, but I reckon she's got a nasty concussion at the moment." I knew that things between myself and Guy might never again be what they once were, but we were sort of talking again.

At least he wasn't openly blaming me for it anymore.

"Must've been quite the hit." Victus remarked as he made his way across the room to stand behind the two watching the game.

"Yeah it was weird, the Asari had this… vicious hate in her eyes and then as soon as she'd failed to hit me and got her partner by accident it was like a switch flipped in her head, she became this docile thing as though she'd done some great wrong." And while yes, she had, it was something more than that, as though she knew that she would be punished for the incident.

"Well she did." Sibus chipped in. "She broke her partner's nose."

"It's not like it was on purpose, she was just stood in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like I said, it was weird." I took another swig from my drink and joined Victus behind the couch. "Who's winning?"

"Nos Irrail are taking a beating this half, they put up a good fight in the first though." Sel'ama replied, her eyes not straying from the screen displaying the match.

"Maybe we can go to a match or two. I've got to go to Illium for a while." At that all eyes turned to me, mostly in surprise, although Victus just had a knowing look in his. It was as though he was expecting me to say something of the sort, and I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew that that was were I would be heading. He seemed to have an uncanny knack for knowing that sort of thing.

"Oh you really don't want to be heading there Greg." Guy said from behind me, a look perilously close to concern on his face when I turned to look at him. "No sense in losing another of us."

"I have to go. I made this bed, now I've got to lie in it." I countered. A part of me did want to go, maybe to get off the station whose walls were beginning to feel as though they were closing around me and to once again be on an actual planet, while the other part of me wanted nothing to do with the place.

"When do you leave?" A flanging voice called from behind me and I turned again to look at Sibus.

"I've got a day or two to prepare and then I'm going." I paused for a moment as everyone realised that things were coming into motion once again. "I don't want to go alone though."

I hoped that they would understand that meant I wanted them to come with me, but I also knew that they really didn't have to join me.

"How long are you going for?" Guy asked. I had a feeling the answer would dictate his response more than it would for the others, but I had to be truthful.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest. I've got to investigate four different groups for anything worth knowing. I could find out everything I need to know in a couple weeks, or it could be months before I get anything." That truth didn't sit with me particularly well, but at the same time there was nothing that I could really do to change it right now.

"I'll need to get some gear ready, but I should be able to leave in two days time." Sibus said from behind me, a determined look in his eye. "You're family now, Greg. We won't leave you to be swallowed by Illium."

"Screw it, goddess knows I'm not doing anything useful here." Sel' shifted from her sprawled position to a more upright one as she looked at me. "Just get me a ticket or two and we'll be even."

"If you're going after those merc groups you'll need all the help you can get." Berrilius injected from where he sat, a look flashing across his eyes before he returned his attention to the game. "Count me in."

"Thanks guys." The words took a moment to get out. I didn't know what else to say. "I'm… I'm gonna get myself ready."

I wandered towards my room, and I could feel their eyes on me. I breathed a quiet sigh as I looked around the room that had become mine. There were barely any possessions held within - I'd not exactly been the most material person before my arrival in this universe, but I'd still had possessions.

The thought of moving once again brought memories of my childhood to the surface. I'd had to move every few years because of my parents' jobs. It wasn't anything I hadn't been able to handle, but as I pulled out a large duffel bag and began to pack my things I couldn't help but reminisce.

The quiet clinking of medals won from tournaments had rang in my head each time I'd had to move them from where they hung at the end of my bed. The flash of a photo being taken making the medals fall to the floor with a muted thud as metal hit carpet. My mother had been holding the disposable camera and peeked over the top of it with a smile as she wound the film for a second shot.

I remember complaining to her, telling her not to sneak up on me.

I grabbed yet another item from my room and placed it in the duffel bag as I did my best to remember their faces. It had only been a couple of months since I'd arrived here, but already their memory was growing murky. Not dramatically so, mind, but it felt as though they were slipping away, falling out of my memory.

With the majority of my belongings already packed away I decided that I would draw them as I remembered them, so that they would go through this journey with me. I was interrupted by the quiet sound of approaching footsteps as I finished the construction work for the family portrait, a mess of graphite and rubber shavings littered one side of the thick paper where I'd wiped the unwanted material away.

"I heard you're leaving." Valeia's voice broke the silence softly.

"Yeah." I couldn't help but heave a sigh as I spoke, turning up to look at her. "The Broker is sending me to Illium. I gotta look into a few different factions there or something."

"Illium's a rough place, Greg." She sat beside me, glancing at the early stages of my drawing. "Looks like you." She pointed at the one on the far left.

"That's my dad. At least, what I think I can remember about him." I placed the drawing equipment on the page and stood, moving to grab the Broker datapad with all of the information I needed on it and brought it back over to her, allowing her to look over the contents. "But yeah, I know about Illium, it's pretty much one step above Omega, and by all accounts that place is a literal shithole."

"Eclipse? Blue Suns? You know Illium is a difficult place to survive on your own as it is… But to go snooping around those groups… Greg, I don't think you're ready for it yet." Valeia was about to continue when I interrupted her with two words.

"I know." I paused to look at her face, and it became apparent that at least some of the others had offered to come with as well without having told her about it.

"So far Sibus, Berry and Sel have offered to come with me. I know it's not exactly going to be safe work - probably not even that exciting, but it'll give us a chance to get out and do something." I watched as Val's face changed from shock to one of mild annoyance.

"Athame's ass I wish they would have told me, I had a big speech prepared about why you shouldn't be going on your own and everything." A light laugh escaped my lips as she huffed at me.

"Will you come too?" I asked, hesitantly hoping that she would say yes. It might not be the healthiest thing for me at the moment, but I didn't particularly care right now.

"Of course." A beaming smile took over her face which faded slightly after a moment. "We do have somewhere to stay there, right?"

Thank you all for reading the story so far,

The next chapter shall begin 'Act II: Out of the Frying Pan', and with it our protagonist will find himself truly entering the world of 'Another Realm'.

Happy holidays everyone!

Reviews:

rfpizzle - The Asari programming might not be as total as you think, but I'm glad that you've caught on. To that end, thank you for the praise, it means a lot, especially since I wrote the beginning of the chapter reactively to the some unfortunate events.

Tusken1602 - As seen in this chapter too! I'm also hoping people will have gotten the reference to Katkiller's Korolev with a broken nose

menschenblut - Thank you again for your continued feedback, and for spotting some of the mistakes that myself and Kat have been missing, for example why the last chapter had an abundance of 'h's' missing from certain words. In other news, I was being slowly overwhelmed by work but I've gotten on top of it all again and I'm enjoying myself doing it, I hope you're also having an easier time of things.