Watching the last Cerberus troop climb aboard the last ship in the bay, the lone mercenary wondered how his luck hadn't run out yet.
The alliance had graciously provided him with the map of this complex. It was called Firebase Glacier, and it held his prize.
His ship, currently in stealth mode, landed silently. His ship staying cloaked as he stepped out, dressed in talon mercenary armor: black, with a red talon on the shoulder guard of his right arm. A mask covered his face. One of simplicity, he would say. The eyes didn't glow, because that was how he had customized it. Lights don't help too much with blending with the shadows. Black hair could be seen at the top of the mask, between the back plate and front. His right arm was covered by the same armor as on his left. He'd seen fools who had left their arm exposed.
He looked through his scope. He could see other troopers patrolling the inside of the base. Spotting a Guardian and he made a quick mental note of his patrol route. They had shields, which wouldn't be a problem for him. He couldn't see the lower levels, but he did see stairs. He saw two more troopers patrolling the landing area.
-Commence operation-
He lowered his scope and took a deep breath. He was trained; trained well enough to kill everyone inside without much effort. He was sure of that.
He was no fool, however. Anything could happen, and it could cost him. His omni-bow may malfunction, or a bolt may not load correctly.
Plus there was the matter of the nightmares.
They kept him on edge, something that, in his line of work, could spell death. First things first: getting over to the base. At the moment he was across from it, on a square block barely big enough for his ship. Activating his bow, he placed a bolt onto it. This specific bolt was attached to a compartment on his belt that held a near-unbreakable wire.
Firing it with a small noise, the bolt struck a wall under the landing zone's edge. His luck apparently hadn't left him yet. The troops didn't seem to notice anything. He tugged carefully on the wire to make sure the bolt would hold.
He jumped off the ledge, zip lining to the base. He listened intently, waiting until the footsteps of the patrolling trooper faded away before grabbing the edge and pulling himself up, quickly retrieving the wire. Seeing the trooper, back turned, walk into the hallway, he moved behind a huge crate.
Peeking around the corner, he saw a trooper coming his way. He'd need to do this quick and quiet. Taking some of the remaining wire in his compartment, he waited. If he alerted the other trooper, things would go sour quickly.
The trooper passed him, and he struck like a cobra. He wrapped the wire around the trooper's neck and pulled. It was so quick that there was no time to react. Giving a quick and sharp twist, he snapped the neck. The mercenary dumped the body over the edge, and moved up the steps the trooper came from.
-Inside Glacier-
Once inside, he saw the guardian moving around. In cover the mercenary spotted two other troopers.
"The hell is so important about this base?" One trooper asked the other.
"Research on the reapers, you know how the Illusive man is about the reapers," he replied.
"Reapers this, reapers that. Not like we're going to forget about them," The trooper responded.
The merc shot a bolt into the hallway behind the troops. They turned around quickly.
"Investigate immediately," The guardian ordered.
The two troopers moved towards where the bolt had landed.
The beauty of these concussive arrows was that they were made for shock-and-awe. Bringing the bow to bear on his targets, He fired off a bolt. It hit the guardian with enough force to knock him forwards, the clatter of his shield falling followed. The other troops tried to see where the shot had come from, only to be met with a scattered shot of omni-arrows piercing their armor, and flesh. They both dropped, blood seeping from the wounds. The guardian had been shot in the back. The concussive force only added more pain. He tried to get up, attempting to call for help.
He didn't get the chance, an arrow lodged into his head.
"Another kill, another nightmare." The mercenary thought.
He moved quickly toward the stairs, checking for more troopers. Surprisingly, he didn't see any. Moving back up, he took care of one last trooper on the landing pad, sending him over into the abyss with a swift kick. Heading back down the stairs, he found what he sought: a reaper artifact, glowing with power. The black stone looked almost to be breathing with purplish energy.
Picking up the artifact, he could hear the whisper of its corrupting influence. Shaking his head, the Talon put it in a medium sized silver box that he slung over his shoulder. The box had been graciously provided by his client.
Suddenly, his instincts kicked in. If it hadn't have been for his years of training and experience, the talon would've died that moment. He leapt over the counter, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the cloaked Phantom's sword. The phantom raised her palm, but was countered when an arrow struck her arm. The shot from her palm fired off, not even close to the intended target.
Momentarily stunned by the arrow, the Phantom didn't have enough time to counter the omni-blade on the merc's other arm. The orange blade was through her chest, blood already welling around it.
"I really don't like killing women." He said, before twisting the blade, ending the phantom's pain.
Pulling the blade out, it vanished just as quickly as it came. He turned to leave, but stopped to look at the monomolecular blade.
"Now that is a trophy worth having." He picked it up looking over it.
The damn thing could cut people in half, and it was nearly unbreakable.
Putting the sword on his back, which held weapons through a small magnetic field stored in his armor. He brought up his omni-tool and pressed a few buttons. His ship came alive, uncloaked and came to a hover at the balcony. Stepping inside, he took off into the air armed with a new weapon.
He'd stop before he met his client on the Citadel to rest. He already knew the phantom would be there in his nightmares tonight. All his kills were. Forever haunting him, the curse of Micheal Binks.