Hello and welcome to the third chapter of Behind the Skull!

First of all, I will inform that I will try to post at least two chapters a week, and maybe more when I have the time (I don't want to let the readers down). Secondly I want to thank all of you for reading this fanfic and for your nice reviews.

Also I would like to mention that, as you probably noticed, this fanfic will follow several points of view, but Emile will still be the main character.

Vote at the end!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or Mass Effect


Emile grew closer to the wounded alien and held up his weapon towards the it. The alien was visibly terrified at the sight of the skull-clad spartan, and it's eyes began to grow wide in fear. Emile stated:

"I need you to answer my questions."

The alien seemed to calm down a bit before asking:

"Y-you're here for the assassin or for Nassana?"

At least he we can understand each other, Emile thought, but it still confused him.

"Assassin? Nassana?"

Emile was wondering what exactly had been going on here.

"You don't know?" The alien asked again.

"You mind telling me?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," the alien responded. "I'm just a local worker, but rumors get around fast here, you know? Someone apparently hired an assassin to kill Nassana, and she's been growing paranoid. She sent out hired Eclipse mercs after us, because she didn't trust us..."

The wounded worker's eyes went sad.

"I... I saw them. Slaughtering my defenceless colleagues... Some of us even tried jumping down from the balconies to escape... It was horrible... And then they sent the dogs after us... Oh god..."

The alien grasped his torso in pain.

"Can't... Breathe..."

Somehow, Emile felt sorry for the creature. This alien wasn't hostile to him, and was even begging for help. If he wanted to, Emile could have left him to his own destiny, but he decided to save him.

Alien or not, killing civilians wasn't part of his agenda.

He grabbed the biofoam pack and held it towards the workers injury.

"Hold still, this might sting a bit."

He pressed the trigger, sending white foam through the open wound. The alien gasped, and looked down surprised to his torso when he discovered he was able to breathe normally. Slowly, he stood up.

"Th... Thank you," the alien whispered. "I owe you my life..."

Emile paid little attention to the worker, but kept on questioning him. "I need to know who this Nassana person is."

The aliens eyes grew wide open in surprise.

"You don't know? Nassana is the most infamous buisnesswoman on Illium! She wouldn't hesitate to bump off her concurrents to stay in power!"

"Doesn't sound like a nice person," Emile commented.

"I don't know really why I started working for her. Guess I needed the money."

Emile thought about it for a while before deciding himself. Whoever this "Nassana" was, she would probably have some more information on his whereabouts than the injured worker. And maybe there would be something to blow up.

"I'm going to pay this Nassana a little visit," he decided. "You know where she is?"

"She's at the top of the second tower, in her office," the worker responded. It's acsessible by a bridge at the top of this tower, but there's a lot of mercs along the way, and if you're not careful, the wind will blow you off the roof."

Doesn't sound easy. But then again, it wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy.

"I'm going to have a chat with her then. I suggest you stay put and wait for help to arrive."

"I will," the alien said, walking slowly away. He turned his head back towards Emile again. "If you see any workers alive up there, could you tell me?"

Emile didn't answer and simply unholstered his shotgun again, but was interrupted by the alien again.

"Wait! I never caught your name, stranger."

Emile turned around and answered:

"Just call me Emile."

And then he went of towards the door.


"We are docking at Illium spaceport now commander," Joker's voice cracked trough the Normandy's intercom.

"Good," Shepard answered. "Tell Garrus and Jacob to meet me at the door."

The commander went to the armory to arm himself, where he met Jacob who was inspecting a Carnifex hand cannon. The Cerberus operative turned towards Shepard and made a crisp salute before returning to polishing his gun.

"So," Jacob asked, "We are going to look for the assassin first?"

"Yes, a drell named Thane Krios," Shepard answered, equiping himself with an Avenger assault rifle. "We'll go meet the information broker first to find his whereabouts, and then we will try to recruit him."

Shepard looked over at Jacob, who didn't look very happy.

"Something wrong Jacob?"

"No offence commander," Jacob said as he slotted in a thermal clip into his hand cannon, "but I don't like the idea of having a hired assassin on the team."

"You can think whatever you want about it," Shepard glared back, "but don't let it jeopardize the mission."

"Of course Commander."

After a while, fully equiped and armed, Shepard and Jacob went to the airlock, where Garrus was already waiting for them. The door opened, and Shepard and his team walked out of the Normandy, heading for the information broker. Shepard had a strange feeling.

I have a feeling that somehow, there is a surprise waiting for us when we find him, he mused.


So, Emile is going for Nassana while Shepard is going for Thane. A meeting between both parties is inevitable (that's the whole point)... And a massive clusterf*ck too...

Now for the vote. I have decided in my extreme wisdom that Jun will appear in the ME universe, and that Six will stay on Reach. Don't worry, both of them will appear in the next chapter!

Only now, how big should Six' role be in this story?

Keep voting and reviewing, and stay tuned for the next chapter!