AN: Hey folks! Sorry about the wait. Let's just say that finals can be a real killer. But I'm back, and boy this took a while to write. Hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. That belongs to Bioware. And if you happen to see references to anything else, those respective things belong to those respective companies or people. If that's all, then read on!


I sat down, staring at Azrael's image. It's been four hours since the Skyllian Blitz, which is what the rest of the galaxy was calling the attack on Elysium, had ended. I had gotten orders from them, but I wanted to speak to them first. And that's where we ended up.

"So… what exactly did you want to speak to me about?" Azrael asked, staring at me.

"I wanted to talk about why I'm doing this. I get that you wanted me specifically, and I agreed, but what's in it for me? What do I get out of this?" I asked. The question had been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while now.

Azrael sighed, as if they were expecting the question. "What's in it for you? Besides giving you a wide assortment of weapons and armor? Besides helping you save a colony? I had hoped to convince you with your sense of adventure, but I guess I could go one better. I can give you the batarians who murdered your parents." They said.

I flinched back, as if I was slapped. I might as well have been. All the arguments I had in mind, the possible payouts I'd drawn up, they just vanished. "What... what did you say?" I croaked out. Azrael nodded.

"You heard what I said. Let's not beat around the bush Richard. I know that you spent a year after Mindior searching for their killers. I know that you found nothing. That will change, but only if you agree to work with me." They said.

"You're… you're serious… aren't you?" I asked. They nodded.

"I am. Granted, it will take a while to get to them, but rest assured, if you continue to work for me, I can give you justice. Of course, it will be hard for you to strike at some of the most successful slavers in the galaxy without some help wouldn't it?" They asked. I mutely nodded.

"Excellent. Now if that's all, is there anything else you need?" Azrael asked. I shook my head. I guess it's time to get to work then.

"Where to first... boss?" I asked. Azrael chuckled.

"I'm glad you asked. Rest for now. Tomorrow however, I need you to go somewhere, meet up with some people." They said, typing into a terminal.

"Uhh... people? What exactly do you mean by that?" I asked.

"No offense Richard, but did you honestly think that you were the only person working for me? I've been assembling a team for the better part of five years, one that I want you to meet. Now I'm not asking you to join them. No, I'm asking you to work with them. This will make it easier, you have my word." Azrael shot back.

I nodded. "Fair point. So do I meet them out of or in armor? Because I'm honestly not sure what you're going for here." I said.

"Out of armor. Don't worry, my team is reliable. They'll keep a secret. You have my word." They assured me.

Well his word's been good so far, so why not? "Just tell me where to go. I'll be there." I said. Azrael chuckled once more.


The Next Day

That's how I ended up here, drinking at a still functioning bar. Azrael told me that the leader of his team would meet me here. I had just finished a shot when I heard someone take a seat next to me. I turned to see a man wearing some old school Earth clothing. He looked to be in his thirties, tan with messy brown hair and green eyes. I hope this was the guy.

"Aaron Keener?" I asked, standing up. The man smirked and nodded.

"The one and only. You must be Richard Mercer. Pleasure to meet you." He said, sticking out his hand.

I shook it. "Pleasure's mine. We going to talk here, or were you planning to take me somewhere more secure?" I asked, looking around the bar. Aaron chuckled.

"The second one. You're pretty sharp kid. Come on, way too many people around here." He said, standing up and nodding to the door. I followed him out of the bar, and to where a black skycar was parked. We both entered, and I saw a rather pale woman with short black hair sitting in the driver's seat. Aaron nodded to her.

"Richard? This is Michelle. One of the best damn pilots I've ever worked with." He said with a chuckle.

The woman shook her head. "Flattery will get you nowhere boss." She shot back. Aaron just smirked. She activated the skycar, and like that we were off.


As we flew through the city, I decided to ask Aaron a few questions.

"How many of you guys are there?" I asked, reclining a bit in the seat. Figured I should know how many people to expect.

Aaron shrugged. "Counting us here? There's eight in total. Well nine with you. Don't worry, you'll meet them all when we get there." He said, typing something in his omni tool. I nodded.

"Good to know. So... what exactly are you guys called? Azrael only mentioned that you worked for him." I said. Aaron nodded.

"Yeah, sounds about right. We never really got a name when we started, but we started getting known as Azrael's little Shadow Squad. The name kinda stuck." He said, still typing away. Shadow Squad? Well this sounds interesting.

"What exactly do you guys do? You aren't exactly a large scale force." I said, discreetly trying to see where we were heading. Aaron chuckled from the front seat.

"You're not wrong. As the name implies, we work in the shadows. Out of sight, out of mind. All that good stuff. We do a variety of operations, from taking out high priority criminals to aiding colonies with defense, along with the occasional wetwork." He said, having finally finished typing. He turned back to face me.

"So I guess you were busy here then?" I asked. Aaron nodded.

"Yeah. We went behind the enemy lines, made sure to knock out some of their supplies. I saw your work down there, not bad kid." He said, giving me a thumbs up. I just nodded. Damn, this gig was starting to look better by the minute. I looked outside to see we had finally arrived.

Aaron hopped out of the skycar, and Michelle and I followed him. Not going to lie, this place was pretty discreet. Points to whoever picked this place out. Aaron motioned to the door.

"Come on kid, the rest of us are in here." He said, opening the door. We walked into the warehouse, the door slamming shut behind us. Well this seems familiar. At least they haven't tried to blindfold me or anything. The three of us walked into what looked like the main area. Damn there was a lot of stuff going on in here.

On one side, there was a man working on some guns. And by some I mean a lot. On the other side, an armored figure was on top of a gunship, welding away. On top of a scaffolding, I saw another armored figure with a sniper rifle, scanning the surrounding area. Michelle took off... somewhere. Damn she's fast. Aaron approached the man surrounded by guns.

He looked like he was in his forties, with brown hair in a buzzcut and a small stubble. He had a three scars running down the left side of his face, with the second scar barely missing his eye. He looked up when we entered. "Hey Aaron. This the new guy?" He asked, setting down the assault rifle he was working on. Damn. This guys voice was like gravel.

Aaron nodded. "Yep. Richard Mercer? This is Jason Cross. Our heavy weapons specialist and armory head." He said, slapping the guy on the shoulder. Cross stuck out his hand. I shook it, nearly wincing at the strength. He had a hell of a grip.

"Pleasure to meet you. You need a weapon, just ask me. Any preference?" He asked, gesturing to the table next to him.

"Yeah. Pistols and Assault Rifles work." I replied. Cross nodded.

"Alright. I can work with that. Just leave your stuff with me when you get the chance. Oh and Aaron? I finished it. You can test it out later." He said, handing Aaron a case. A gun? Probably. Eh, I'll ask about it later. Aaron nodded.

"Thanks Jason. I'll definitely try this out later. For now I'm still a tour guide." He said, smirking. Cross just chuckled, shaking his head and getting back to work. Aaron walked off towards the gunship and I followed.

Before Aaron could speak, the person raised a finger. We waited for few minutes as the person continued to work, when they finally finished. They stood up, hopping down from the gunship. They took off their helmet, revealing a woman with short red hair and hazel eyes.

"Hey boss. The Hawk took a few hits the other day, and I just finished patching up the last one." She told Aaron, setting the blowtorch down. Then she saw me. "Who's this?" She asked, wiping some sweat off her brow. I decided to take the lead here.

"Richard Mercer. Nice to meet you." I said, sticking out my hand. She smirked, shaking it.

"Nice to meet you too. Name's Karrie Norton. I'm the Chief Engineer for the team." She said, nodding back to the gunship. Aaron snorted.

"You're the only engineer we have Karrie. Good work by the way. Anything else?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Nope. Everything looks good." She said. Then she looked at me. "Do you have a shield generator?" She asked. I nodded. She sighed. "Good. If you have the chance, give it to me, I can upgrade it. We don't want you running around without any protection for a month, unlike someone." She said, glaring at Aaron. He held up his hands on surrender.

"It's not my fault I'm used to fighting without them. Besides, I only almost died once." He said, chuckling. Karrie poked him hard on the chest, and he winced. "Fine, twice. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to introduce Rich here to the others. Oh and we'll be heading out soon, so pack up okay?" He asked. She gave a mock salute and walked away. Aaron chuckled again.

"Feisty one isn't she?" He asked. I just nodded. "Come on Rich, time for a checkup." He said, walking off. Wait what?


I got my answer as I followed him into a sterile white room. Some really old music, Beethoven or something like that, was playing in the background. The room itself looked like your classic med bay, with equipment everywhere and a few beds, one of which was occupied by a man. Aaron sighed and walked over to him, lightly smacking the guy across the face

"Get up you lazy bum. Doc said you should rest for a few hours, and it's already been a day." He barked, looking back and winking at me. The man groaned in response.

"Yes yes, give me a minute will you? Besides unlike you, some people need sleep." He shot back. The man sat up and saw me. "Oh, Richard Mercer. Glad you're here. I'm Luke Wilbourne, tactical officer and leader of this little crew when the barbarian here isn't in charge." He said, sticking out his hand and ignoring the finger Aaron was flipping him. I shook it, taking in his appearance.

He was young, that much was obvious. Christ he couldn't be older than 24. He had messy blonde hair that reached his shoulders, green eyes that seemed to be studying me, and a very cocky smirk on his face.

"Pleasure to meet you. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly happened?" I asked, gesturing to the gauze I could see wrapped around his shoulder. Luke waved me off.

"Ah it's fine. I uh... got a little cocky the other day. Pirate got the drop on me, stabbed me in the chest. Didn't realize until about forty minutes later that he punctured my lung. I mean, it was obvious once I started coughing up blood. Not my proudest moment." He said, rubbing his head sheepishly. Something about that statement got my attention.

"Wait, you're saying it took forty minutes to realize you had a punctured lung? How the hell are you still alive?" I asked in wonder. I'm no doctor, but that still sounds pretty bad.

Luke was about to answer when another person interrupted him. "That would be because of me." I heard a woman say. I turned to where the voice came from. Standing in the doorway with her arms crossed stood a woman with a small grin on her face. She was shorter than me, standing at about 5'7, with short black hair tied into a bun and blue eyes. She was glaring at Aaron and Luke, who were both trying to look innocent.

"Aaron. While I do give some leeway when it comes to you, would you kindly not attack my patients?" She asked pointedly. Aaron held up his hands in defeat. She turned to Luke, who was cackling at him. "And you. I specifically told you that the wounds you sustained were nonthreatening when I was finished. What on earth are you still doing in here?" She asked incredulously.

Luke chuckled. "Sorry Riley. The beds here are just too good to ignore. Besides, I needed my beauty sleep." He said with a smirk. Riley shook her head.

"Idiot. Out, both of you. I need to give our friend here a medical examination." She said, pushing Aaron and Luke out of the room, much to their annoyance. She let out a frustrated sighed, then turned to me and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that. Now that that's done, introductions I suppose. I'm Riley Evans, the only one capable of keeping this near suicidal team alive. You're Richard Mercer yes? Jason told me about you. Are you okay with this examination? You're going to have to remove your clothes." She said, walking over to a cabinet. I nodded.

"Why not? I haven't had a decent examination in a while. Have at it." I told her, taking off my shirt. She grinned in response.

"Finally a patient without the stubbornness of a krogan." Riley said, sighing again, this time in relief.


After about an hour of tests, I was finally given the okay. But before I left, Riley gave me some surprising news.

"You know, with your body's condition you can take a few enhancements if you're up to it. Let me know later on if you want some, alright?" She asked. I nodded, fixing up my shirt. Damn, this could be useful. I'm liking this gig more and more.

"If that's all, then I guess I'm free to go?" I asked. Riley nodded.

"Yep. I'll let you know if I find anything major, but from the looks of things everything's fine. Rachel here will show you where Aaron went." She said, gesturing to the door behind me. I turned to see the sniper from earlier. They took off their helmet, revealing a young woman's face.

She was pale, almost as pale as Michelle. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail, and two orange eyes stared back at me. She gestured for me to follow, walking out of the med bay. I said my goodbyes to Riley, before heading out. I quickly caught up with Rachel, who was walking at a rather brisk pace.

"So, not sure if we've been introduced yet. I'm Richard Mercer." I said, trying to start up conversation. Rachel merely hummed in response. We kept walking, with almost no conversation happening.

"So... don't talk much do you?" I asked her, trying to get some of the silence out of the way. She shrugged.

"Never saw much use for it to be honest." She rasped out. I turned to look at her. That's when I saw them. Scars, surgical by the looks of it, were across her neck. Shit.

"Oh... damn. Sorry, I didn't notice." I hastily said. Rachel shrugged it off.

"It's fine. You didn't see. Anyways, we're already here." She said, pointing to a door on my right. With that, she walked away.

"Well that was awkward." I muttered. That's when I realized something. "Wait a minute... Aaron said I would meet all eight members of the team, but I've only met seven. Where the hell's the eighth?" I asked no one in particular.

"Well someone's sharp." I heard a voice say behind me. I turned around, raising my hands up. Behind me was a man, standing in all black. He was slim, standing a bit shorter than me, with pale skin and dark eyes. Well eye anyway. His right eye, concealed by the hood he wore, was glowing a sickly green. The man chuckled.

"Good reflexes there." He said, sticking out his hand. "I wouldn't have shown up if you hadn't remembered. Name's Garrett." He said. I shook his hand. Garret nodded to the door. "We can talk later. Aaron wants to speak with you. Be seeing you Richard." He said, walking off into the shadows.

I shook my head. Damn, these guys were good. Time to speak with Aaron. I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A voice called out. I walked in to see Aaron speaking to Azrael. They both stopped when they saw me.

"Richard. Good to see you came. What do you think of the team?" Azrael asked. I thought for a moment.

"They're... something else to tell you the truth. Glad I signed up with this." I said. Aaron chuckled.

"Good to hear. Actually, it's a good thing you arrived when you did. I was just telling Aaron here about the team's next assignment. It might hold some interest to you." They said. I raised an eyebrow.

"And what exactly would this assignment be?" I asked. Azrael chuckled.

"While we don't know who led the attack on Elysium, we know who funded it. The Batarian Hegemony. What do you say to disrupting a government that basically condoned the attack on a colony?" Azrael asked. Aaron probably knew the answer because he started chuckling.

"Where do we start?" I asked, grinning viciously.

AN: So yeah... this is a thing. What did you guy think? I figured it would get real old real fast if Richard was going around, being a one man army. Besides, with the introduction of Shadow Squad means more opportunities for the story. Until next time, Read, Review and Enjoy!