Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own the ME'verse, bioware does.
Prologue
Breathing. It's the most important action that all living beings perform and yet it's an unconscious thought. Ancient (human) martial artists, philosophers and athletes all preached the importance of one's breathing. It can calm you, enhance your senses and help you gain mastery over your body. It's what I'm doing right now; controlling my breathing whilst handling the rifle held in my arms. Looking through the scope, I spot my target. His name is Naem Volar, a monster of a Turian that has a habit for kidnapping human teenagers, forcing them into servitude and killing them via strangulation after they start boring him.
I saw pictures of his victims, lifeless eyes staring blankly at me through the photograph, blotchy purple marks on their necks, windpipe crushed. Seeing their parents is even worse. They're turned into sobbing, angry messes that have nowhere to direct their wrath, since there is little to no evidence that Naem even committed the murders. No DNA, skin, hair, surveillance or witness testimony to prove that he committed the crimes, except the purple mark on his victim's necks. It's tragic really, nobody should have to watch his or her kids die.
A few months after his killing spree started, he let something fall through the cracks. This time, the kidnapped girl was killed with two shots to the chest, which left gaping, bloody holes. Bruises on her knuckles confirmed that there was a struggle prior to death, and C-Sec managed to pull Turian plate scrapings off the dead girl's fists, confirming that Naem Volar was indeed the killer.
C-Sec wasn't fast enough though. Naem knew that his time was up on the citadel, and fled the station on his personal craft straight after he murdered the poor girl. Since nobody knew it was him who committed the murders at the time, customs just let him waltz into space without any fuss. After it was discovered that the very organization that was supposed to stop Naem actually let him through Citadel security, there was a scandal of colossal proportions, which ended in several officers that were in charge of Naem's case getting replaced.
After hearing of this, the council hired me to purse and quietly "eliminate" the threat. I knew that it wasn't incarceration that they planned for him, but a quiet death that nobody in the galaxy would complain about. So, the chase led me here to Rekombae, a seldom-visited garden planet after determining his exit vector from the citadel. Since it was so sparsely populated, it wasn't all that hard to locate his whereabouts on the planet. Turns out the bastard purchased a summer home for himself under an alias, which was easily traced via funds transferred from his real identity. Turns out, the killer who had eluded C-Sec for months was only an amateur.
His residence was not that big, comprising of one main building and about a quarter of an acre of open field. Security was a joke, consisting of a few ill-placed cameras and two guards wandering about aimlessly. Considering they were just hired to do their jobs, I opted to knock them out for the duration of the op instead of killing them outright. The guards were taken care of easily with concussion rounds from a silenced sniper rifle that would put them in dream-land for around 2 hours, and the measly electronic security disabled with a broad spectrum, blanket EMP. This made sneaking onto the grounds a cakewalk. I set up about 500 meters away from his balcony, giving me clear line of sight and allowing me enough space to watch for movement across the entire main building. Even though there was little to no light (since I chose to conduct the op at night), I chose to activate the cloak on my armor, go prone and wait for the target to emerge.
I finally spot him carrying a bottle of some Turian alcoholic beverage and a glass out onto the balcony and reach for my rifle, extending the deadly weapon to it's full length. I don't bother with a silencer or lowering projectile velocity, since there is nobody around to hear the shot, which brings me back to the beginning. In and out I breathe, slowly, deliberately saturating my blood with oxygen. My heart rate slows, body completely still for the shot that I'm about to take. Adjustments were made to compensate for wind, gravitational pull, geo-rotation and atmospheric composition. The rifle's computer reports green across the board, information that is sent to my helmet's HUD and I make final preparations to take the shot.
Naem sits down on a patio chair, pours himself a finger of that Turian liquor, takes a sip, and relaxes. It's the last thing he'll ever do. Slowly, I breathe out, waiting for the beats of my heart to slow down. Before he can move again, I move the rifle so that it sights directly on the center of his chest. Contrary to popular belief, center-mass shots are almost always deadly, and a much bigger target than the head. Millimeters away from the trigger, I will myself to squeeze the trigger, sending a projectile at a fraction of the speed of light towards my target. The recoil slams the rifle into my shoulder, but doesn't cause any pain since I'm wearing armor. He doesn't stand a chance. The round blows a hole the size of my fist in his chest cavity, the surrounding area burnt to a crisp. Unlike the movies, he does not stagger back, clutching his wound in agony before dropping like a stone. The sheer trauma caused by my modified rifle sent him into oblivion without pain or suffering. He deserved worse before he died, but it was more efficient this way.
Suddenly, I hear klaxons sounding, and metal rods rising from the ground, revealing floodlights that lit up the grounds like a Christmas tree. Since I just fired the shot, my cloak has long since fizzled out and won't be available for another precious minute. My armor-covered shape can easily be seen by anybody. A door opens in the main building, and Turians wielding small arms rush out, looking for the intruder. I guess I must've missed something with the initial inspection of the house, since ten mercenaries that were now pouring out of the house would've been detected by my numerous thermal scans.
They finally spot me and open fire, causing rounds to ping off of my shields and sending the alarms inside my helmet into overdrive. Sneaking a glance at my HUD, I see that my shields are barely holding at 15%. I wouldn't last much longer without cover. Since I placed myself in the middle of the grounds, there is not even a single rock to hide behind. I guess there's no helping it; I have to use biotics. Flaring blue, I create a barrier with a thought and a gesture, and the once-deadly bullets flying my way fall harmlessly to the ground, to heavy to continue their fatal flight towards me. I don't bother reaching for my assault rifle, choosing to fend off the attackers with my mind instead. Gesturing in the general direction of the mercenaries, blue spheres of kinetic energy collide with the Turians, breaking bones and sending three flying into the wall, rendering them incapacitated and probably dead. Steeling myself and the barrier around me, I lower my mass into the negatives and charge into the fray, sending two of the mercs that I collided with crashing into the wall of the house, their necks and limbs bent at abnormal angles.
The five Turians left did not even have time to react as a create a field of negative mass to surround them, levitating them several meters up into the air. Grunting with effort, I suddenly reverse the field's effects, sending the mercenaries' mess skyrocketing. The five Turians hurtle towards the floor, crushed by their own abnormally increased weight. With the target down and the threat to my personal safety eliminated, it was time to get away from the scene of the crime before the local authorities get here. Gunfire and screams of pain are anything but inconspicuous. Toggling my cloak again, I run at a brisk pace back into the darkness, leaving the massacre behind.
You know, I wasn't always the killer I am now. Believe it or not, I don't even originate from this Universe. My name is Alex, and this is my story.
Please review! I've written several other fics under different names, but never found the motivation to continue since there wasn't that many people who read them. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy. Drop me a line if anybody wants to talk. I'm also looking for a beta by the way, so if anybody wants to take up the post, please let me know =)
P.S I realize that a lot of the SI's are named Alex and that might make it a little confusing and perhaps laughable, but it really is my real name.
P.P.S If anybody thinks this story is good enough to warrant a cover, please let me know!