"Lost in Time"

Chapter 5

A/N: I'm so sorry guys! I completely forgot about this fic under the pile of other fics I have still unfinished. I've been working graveyards and I'm completely wiped out. I hope I didn't lose any of my readers due to the lack of updates. Anyways, please enjoy and review at the end.

Disclaimer: Same as always. All characters belong to BioWare. Characters I make along the way are just sticking their fingers in their sandbox.

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Jane Shepard was mad. Scratch that. To say she was mad was and understatement. Jane Shepard was furious. It had been three days since her detention and her squad had yet to come and bust her out. Shepard was a patient woman but there was only so much poking and prodding she could take. Over the course of these three days the same two officers would come into her cell and ask the same questions over and over. She was so close to simply incinerating the door and walking out.

That's it! As soon as I'm out someone is losing a set of teeth!

Shepard's attention was sidetracked to the narrow hallway just outside her cell. She neared the door to take a peek and froze the instant she saw who was coming. It was non other than Jacob Taylor. He walked up to her door and unlocked it letting the door fling open. Shepard couldn't hold her relief. She sighed loudly and punched Jacob in the arm.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Taylor! What in the world took you so long? Why are you dressed like that?" Shepard tugged at Jacobs shirt. He was sporting a camouflage shirt with matching pants which Shepard quickly recognized as a military uniform.

"We'll explain later, Commander. For now we should get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I've had enough of this place."

Shepard and Jacob made their way past a set of double doors and met up with Miranda who was waiting for them in the PD lobby. Shepard's smile widened when she saw her former XO dressed in a military officer's uniform. Now she was really curious. Miranda saluted the commander and Shepard quickly caught on.

"At ease. I assume everything is in order here and I am free to leave?"

The officer standing next to Miranda ran to the door and opened it.

"Ye.. Yes! We offer our sincere apologies ma'am. We had no idea who you were. Please, let us know if you ever need our assistance. We will gladly offer our aid."

"That won't be necessary but thank you. Now if you'll excuse me we'll be taking our leave."

The officer stepped out of the way and the commander and her crew walked out the doors.

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Shepard was walking around the tiny apartment. It was for the most part empty. She walked towards the middle of the living room where Miranda was working on a machine that looked like a computer hooked up to her Omni tool.

"So let me get this straight. You took three days to come get me because you were doing research?"

"Again, Commander, I apologize for the delay. We needed to come up with a non invasive way of removing you from custody. We could not afford to expose ourselves. I was able to gain access to a computer terminal and luck would have it that their security isn't as sophisticated as ours. I was able to download information from different government databases and was able to integrate our identities into their military database. Once I obtained said identification cards it was easy to acquire the apparel. We simply walked into the detention facility, showed our ID's and told the officers you were our commander and that we were on a secret military mission that they were about to ruin. We simply threatened to take them all into military custody for interference and they gave us the key to your cell."

Shepard was actually surprised. She knew Miranda was smart but she had never really known how useful and resourceful she could be. Not to mention she was able to adapt to this centuries technology rather quickly.

"Excellent job, Lawson. Not only did you get us access to government files you also secured a safe house. I never knew how useful you really were. I take back anything negative I have ever said about you. I guess Cerberus did train you well."

"Thank you, Commander. Although Cerberus doesn't have as much to do with my abilities as you might think. But enough about that. We still need to find a way to get to Nyra's partner. She remains captured and we need to retrieve her and the time travel device if we want to get out of here."

"You still haven't told me what they're doing here. There's no possible way that they were here on an exploration mission like she claimed. I might not be a genius but even I know they wouldn't have been able to get here without the Charon Relay and that hasn't even been discovered yet."

"Commander, there's something you need to know…"

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Shepard was sitting on the roof's edge of their building. She still couldn't believe what she heard. How was it possible that the Illusive Man had managed to destroy everything she had worked hard for? Was his ambition so great that he sacrificed innocent lives? A tear rolled down her cheek when she thought about Garrus. How was he? Was he even still alive? For her it had only been a few days since she hadn't seen him but for Garrus it had been years. She wanted to see him. She wanted to feel his warmth against her skin. To hear his breath next to her ear when they were asleep.

"Commander, are you ok?"

Jacob walked up to the commander and sat next to her.

"We'll find a way out of here. I promise."

"We will Taylor. And when we do I am going to hunt down the Illusive Man and I will take great pleasure in killing him. Slowly and very painfully. I'm going to make him feel every single innocent life he's taken if it's the last thing I do."

The commander's sadness was now replaced with rage. She lifted herself up and made her way inside the building.

"Do we have any plans yet? How is your investigation going, Miranda?"

The XO was still busy searching databases and building schematics.

"Unfortunately I have not been successful in finding any relevant information. It appears that the place were Nyra's partner is being held is a very well kept secret. The only way to truly investigate would be to infiltrate the building and do a live scan of the area."

The commander was pacing processing the information. She sat down next to Miranda and brought out her own Omni tool. Miranda transferred all the information she had been working with onto Shepard's Omni tool and they began formulating ideas.

A couple hours passed and only a handful of ideas had been deemed useful. The day had been other wise uneventful. Shepard stood and walked towards the window.

"I don't suppose you managed to secure currency for us did you?"

Miranda tossed a plastic card towards Shepard.

"Here. This is called a credit card. It's similar to a credit chit only the money is borrowed. I removed the limit it has so you should be able to make a substantial purchase if need be."

The XO turned her gaze at the commander and smirked. Her stomach had growled very loudly.

"I suppose we should venture out and purchase some sustenance. If we are to embark on a dangerous mission in an unknown place might as well do it on a full stomach."

Shepard called out to Jack who had locked herself in one of the rooms. She was being gloomier than usual. Miranda had said something about her being on Earth brought back memories of when she was out on the streets on her own. Stuff like that tends to mess with your head she said.

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The city streets were crowded with people even at night. Miranda had downloaded enough information about the area for them to walk around without getting lost. They made their way through a parking lot and into a series of buildings their information called a "mall." Shepard felt a little awkward walking around without her armor. Whenever she visited the Zakera Ward on the Citadel she always had it on. But here, it would be too suspicious for them to walk around in such manner. Luckily they still had the clothes they had stolen at the camp.

Shepard and her crew walked up to the counter of a restaurant. "First things first. We eat. I'm starving. Then we need to acquire some proper apparel. I don't like the looks we're getting and I'm afraid Jack will kill someone if they keep staring at her."

"Agreed." Miranda looked around and frowned. "All the food here is so high in calories and saturated fats."

"What did you expect? McDonald's hasn't changed. Even a century of causing heart attacks and obese children they haven't changed their menu." Shepard ordered food for her, Jack and Jacob who claimed they had never eaten at a McDonalds and moved out of the way for Miranda who opted on ordering a salad. She noted to pass by a grocery store and buy some proper food for later.

With their stomachs full they made their way across the mall and walked into a department store.

"We need to acquire proper clothing if we are to blend in. That means nothing extravagant. Jack that means you. You can't walk around exposing your chest. We can't afford to draw any attention to ourselves. Meet here in 30 minutes time. No longer. We need to get back and continue planning. Nyra will be waiting for us with any information she was able to gather about the base."

The crew split and Shepard started browsing the racks for something appropriate. She wished they had a good armor store. She always felt most comfortable when wearing the light, protective metal. All she could find were frilly shirts and pants so tight they could choke a quarian. Shepard was starting to become annoyed. Didn't anyone believe in comfort anymore? It was all about looks here. After minutes of browsing she finally walked up to a rack of jeans.

Luckily the sizing system hadn't changed and she picked up a pair of size 4 loose fitting jeans and grabbed a t shirt from a shelf next to it. She was on her way to the meeting spot when she remembered she didn't have any underwear. She quickly ran to the lingerie section and grabbed a pack of the nearest small underwear she could find. Thinking she was done she started walking and remembered something else. She needed a bra. She hated shopping for bra's because she never found the right size.

Shepard was running out of time and she didn't want to take any longer than she needed to. She grabbed a few pieces and tested them over her shirt. She was feeling the material when she heard someone cough behind her. She turned to see Jacob trying to keep himself from staring at her.

"Jacob, what do you think?" Shepard placed her hands on her hips and twisted side to side to let Jacob see the whole thing.

"Um… It looks nice. I, um, I'm done. I was just letting you know that I'll be waiting in the designated meeting area." Jacob's face was flushed. Shepard knew he had a crush on her and she enjoyed teasing him.

"I'll be there in a few. I'm done here. I just need to collect my things."

Shepard unhooked the bra and folded it back again. Placing it over her already chosen items she remembered she also needed shoes. She picked up her items and quickly ran to the shoe section of the store. Picking up a pair of black size 8 chucks she finally ran back to the meeting area.

Everyone but Miranda were there. Jack had picked up a couple of jeans and shirts and some black, biker looking boots. Jacob had apparently chosen to be a bit more classy and had some dress pants and dress shirts with him.

"Has anyone seen Miranda?" The commander looked around trying to spot her but failed.

"The Cheerleader was talking to some dude last I saw her. Maybe she's in the dressing rooms fucking him."

"Jack!"

"What? That's what I would do. I'm just saying."

As if on cue the XO walked up behind them. To Shepard's surprise she was empty handed.

"Aren't you getting anything for yourself, Miranda?"

"Of course, Commander. I acquired a few items but I'm having them delivered. Let's go pay and get out of here."

The crew walked up to the cashier and placed their items on the counter. Shepard laughed at the clerk. He was staring at Miranda so hard he could've burned a hole in her shirt. The boy scanned the last item and gave them their total.

"That'll be $12,763.58"

Shepard nearly choked.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh it's alright Comm… err.. Shepard. I told you I was getting some stuff delivered. The total is correct." Miranda handed the blushing boy the plastic card and smiled.

"What exactly did you get, Miranda?"

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A/N: So there's the next chapter. Not as action packed or interesting but they had to do some shopping. They really couldn't walk around in armor or mismatched clothing. And Jack sure as hell wasn't going to walk around in a flower patterned shirt. Reviews are welcome. Suggestions are too. I'm running out of juice.