E.T.

2.

"You need to be more careful!" Screeched the synthetic voice, little red lights blaring to emphasize Nico's words.

It was hard to hide the smirk tugging at the corners of her lips, so Jo kept her head down. He cared. And while she found that utterly adorable, it had been ten minutes after regailing the AI with her tale of cowardly running yet he was still nagging her like a worried mother hen.

"I got the money. And I got away, Nico. Licketty split!" She winked over her shoulder, tinkering around with her omnitool absentmindedly.

If he could groan, Jo bet it'd sound like whore house in the small supply room that the AI's terminal was set up in. At least they were secluded, nobody came back through here except that old Jelly. And he seemed to be deaf and blind. She almost felt bad.

"Just continue to watch the tracker he placed on you, it will only take him ten more minutes to arrive."

Jo hummed and nodded in response, glancing at the little beeping device. A sneer quickly replaced her previously amused expression. It was bound to happen, yet she still couldn't help but scold herself for letting it get to that point. She should have stayed in a public setting after they caught her. The asari said "no C-Sec," and she could have easily used that to her advantage had she stopped to think for a minute.

It took all her self control not to smash the damn thing for reminding her of her mistake.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Turning from her omnitool, Jo slid off the chair and knelt next to the mini microwave and pressed the off button. Nico said something but the only thing on her mind was slurping up her noodles. A lot of aliens said that ramen looks like worms, but lots of humans ate bugs. The country her mother came from made it a tradition of sorts, funnily enough. So who was she to be picky?

"Man, I'm starving!" Jo set the bowl down on the table, tearing open the seasoning packet and carefully spreading it over the noodles. She sat back down, greedily twirling her fork in the noodles and licking her lips like the mutt she was.

"I will never understand the enjoyment that comes from simply refilling your energy."

Playfully rolling her eyes, Jo waved a hand over her shoulder as she nearly choked over her forkful. "Evolution..." She coughed, shaking her head and hitting her chest before taking a sip of her stolen soda. "More intelligent species care about flavor more. You wont see many rats giving a shit about the trash they rifle through."

"Intelligent, being the key word. How many organics can truly claim to be such?"

"Einstein, Da'Vinci, salarians, quarians..." Jo grinned, taking another mouthful of noodles and nearly choking.

Again, Jo knew that if the AI could scoff, he most certainly would at her words. "For the time, Einstein and Da'Vinci were indeed intelligent. But now, even with all the knowledge that organics currently have, it is highly unli-"

"Shh! He's here, get your recorder ready."

Jo slid her omnitool back in place on her wrist, making sure it was ready with the exosuit codes she'd nabbed earlier. Even if he'd beefed up his security, she still had some wiggle room, especially with Nico here. They just had to get him close enough to Nico's blast zone, scramble his suit and then take his omnitool.

"That was a close one," came a flanging voice from Nico's speakers. "Could have been ugly."

"Agreed, next time you should warn me before sending me out blind like that." Jo replied easily enough, they'd practiced a few times earlier but it still had a few awkward areas. "Next time it might not turn out half as clean."