Rubbing his hands together, Neville looked at his squad. "Right. So, for those of you who weren't at the briefing, or haven't read the dossier that one of the Gotos pilfered, we are on our way to recruit an assassin."

Roarke and Zaeed looked bored, Sue raised an eyebrow, Grunt looked like a krogan, and Pari nodded. Kasumi was – quickly, Neville dropped a hand to his pocket, just managing to catch her wrist. "You're getting better," she observed, releasing the credit chit.

"Hands off," he said firmly. "Now, this assassin is a drell, which is unusual enough itself, but he's going after a nasty asari. His last contact was at the docks near here."

"Are we supposed to stop him before he strikes?" Pari asked.

Neville gave an eloquent shrug. "From what little I remember of the asari in question, she is a truly horrid person, so I'm only in a hurry to find him before he slips away off planet. But by the same token, I'm not particularly eager to help him."

"Why not? 'Snot like we all haven't killed before," Sue said, spitting on the sidewalk, narrowly missing a salarian frantically gesticulating to whoever he was talking to.

"Because we're not getting a cut of the credits," Zaeed said. "Never do a job for free that you could be paid for." Roarke nodded sagely along with that piece of wisdom.

Sighing, Neville shook his head. "Look, just wait here while I find his contact and find out exactly where this attempt is supposed to be taking place." Muttering under his breath, he walked off and left them standing in the little courtyard.

In the office nearby, he smiled pleasantly at the two asari doing paperwork at their desks, only to have one of them shake her head. "What went wrong now?" the more purple one asked.

"Well, nothing, I hope. I'm trying to find a Mister Thane Krios," Neville said.

Rising from her seat, the purple one led the way outside the office and over to the alarmingly open drop looking down on seventy stories of building. "You're too late. He's definitely inside the compound by now." She sniffed disdainfully. "Don't know why you want to save that bitch, anyway."

"No, I'm afraid you misunderstand. I don't care if he succeeds. I'm looking to recruit him." Neville smiled broadly, the effort hurting his cheeks.

"You? What, did your boyfriend piss you off?" She shook her head.

He cleared his throat. "Perhaps I should clarify. Myself, and my associates," he said, nodding in their direction. Zaeed, Roarke, and Sue were currently teaching Grunt how to do that knife trick between the fingers bit. Given krogan healing, they were openly laughing every time he missed and sliced open a finger.

She fell silent, watching them for several moments. "Yeah. With them, I don't know why you'd need Krios. He's going after Nassana Dantius."

"I've heard." His smile was a little more brittle. "We may have accidentally helped her with one of her sisters, a few years back."

"Not my problem. She's holed up at the top of Dantius Towers. Only way in is at the ground floor, and the place is full of Eclipse and security mechs." She looked back at the group of warriors. "So, just the six of you?"

Sighing, he looked around, finally spotting the shimmer of Kasumi's stealth field and yanking her towards him with a quick bit of biotics. "Seven. I don't suppose you have a van?"

"Uh, how about I just give you directions."

Landing in front of the building, they began climbing out. The place was alarmingly quiet, the entire block deserted. "This place is ready for a fight," Sue said, popping his rifle out. "You can smell it, the blood on the air."

A series of pops echoed quietly from the building. "That's because there's literal blood on the air," Roarke said, pointing towards the lobby.

"I've got the Loki mechs," Kasumi said. "Could someone get the door for me?" She vanished under her cloak a moment later.

Sighing, Neville watched the pair of Fenrir charge, only to stop at the glass door. "Mechs hardly seem like a challenge. Ah well. Grunt? Reduce them to scrap, if you would?"

The krogan grinned, rolling his shoulders before tightening his grip on his shotgun and breaking into a sprint. Two steps away from the door, the shotgun shattered the glass and the face of one mech. Glass was still falling as two hundred kilos of krogan landed on the other mech, denting the back and slamming it into the floor. Another shotgun blast separated mechanical head from body, the small pistol rounds fired by the other mechs not enough to serve as a distraction.

Before he could turn the weapon on the humanoid mechs, access panels on their backs popped open, and they suddenly powered down as Kasumi returned to view. "In case you're wondering, these retail for fifteen thousand credits each on the black market," she said as everyone crunched across the broken doors.

"Four thousand creds each hardly seems goddamn worth it," Roarke said.

"Better than a kick in the teeth," Zaeed said.

"There's injured over here," Pari said, bending over one of the salarians the mechs were shooting at. "Hold on, buddy. We've got medigel."

"There goes five hundred credits," Zaeed muttered.

"And that's why I turned them off," Kasumi said with a smirk.

"Enough," Neville said. "Are you alright? What's with the mechs?"

"Nassana went crazy," the salarian gasped out. "Ordered us out, then had the mechs start shooting when we didn't run fast enough. Paranoid that someone's coming to kill her." He glanced at the krogan and the pair of Massanis. "Guess she was right."

"As it turns out, we weren't here for her, but I'm starting to change my mind. Alright. Get out of here. Just don't take the van parked on the lawn." Neville's smile wasn't quite as humorous as he intended.

Regrouping, they stepped into the hallway. More mechs activated ahead of them, most sent spinning uselessly by well-placed singularities, the rest deactivated by Kasumi or sniper rounds from Pari. A few mercenaries attempted to put up a resistance, but between Sue and Grunt charging recklessly ahead, most of them ended up smearing the walls with their blood and other bodily fluids.

Up a ramp was another unfinished floor, with a slightly higher concentration of mercenaries, but still not enough to do more than slow them down. Roarke and Zaeed went side by side, gunning mercs down with an occasional biotic blast. The others stuck to their specialties, and before too long the floor was empty of Eclipse.

"Well, that wasn't as challenging as I expected," Neville said. "Shall we start the elevator?"

"Hold on, this door was locked," Kasumi said.

"Was?"

She just grinned and hit the button. Inside, two more salarians cringed against the far wall. "Goddamn Eclipse," Zaeed grumbled.

"Well, I'm going to guess that our yellow-bellied friends weren't the ones who locked you in here," Neville said.

One salarian shook his head. "We don't know who it was. But he wasn't with Eclipse."

"Odd for a goddamn assassin to be a do gooder," Roarke said.

"We're not going to kill them, are we?" Grunt asked. "They're unarmed. Though we could give them some of the dropped weapons."

"No, we're not going to kill them," Neville said. "The way out the front is clear. Leave the van on the lawn alone."

As the salarians ran for their lives, everyone else gathered in front of the elevator and waited for it to arrive. As the display indicated two floors away, Roarke glanced around. "Anyone else bet they sent more soldiers in the elevator?"

Grunt checked his thermal clip. "I sure hope so."

The elevator dinged, the doors slid open, and two Eclipse salarians and a krogan stared at the seven of them in surprise. "Hello," Neville said affably. A moment later, Kasumi and Pari had taken out both of the salarians. "You're not dressed like they are."

The krogan glanced down at the corpses, then at the three assault rifles, one shotgun, and one biotic-covered fist pointed in his direction. "I'm a freelancer. My contract ran out, and they were escorting me out."

"Ah, good, good. The way to the front door is clear. Mind the bodies, and don't touch the van on the lawn." He kept up the affable smile as Kasumi rolled one body out of the elevator. "Better luck with your next employment."

Saying nothing, the krogan remained silent as Sue relieved him of his weapon, carefully sidled past Grunt and started tromping out of the building. "How can a krogan give up so easily?" Grunt complained as they stepped inside and the doors closed. "Pathetic."

"Outnumbered seven to one, you'd still fight?" Zaeed asked.

"Wouldn't you?"

"Not if I had a choice." He fell silent as they passed another floor. "Doesn't mean I haven't."

Pari snorted. "He guessed that we wouldn't kill him. If it had been a group of, say, Blue Suns, I believe his response would have been different."

"Against those goddamn pissants, he might have won," Zaeed growled.

They stayed silent until the elevator arrived at the top floor, and they stepped out. Further down the hallway, another Eclipse trooper was pacing next to a window, his attention on the aircar traffic outside. Motioning to everyone else, they crept down the hall as quietly as they could – which in Grunt's case, wasn't very – and managed to be standing only a few steps away from the trooper when he finally turned around.

"Hullo," Neville said. "We're looking for the assassin."

"Why would I tell you?"

In response, Neville glanced to his left. "Grunt, tear his arm off."

"Gladly," the krogan answered, stepping forward.

"I don't even know where he is!" the man protested.

"Ah, that's too bad. Well, I suppose you'll just have to be leaving then," Neville responded. "Gentlemen?"

The trooper, not being completely stupid, tried to get away, but Zaeed and Sue grabbed him by the arms, then Roarke got one leg, and together they hurled him out the window. Pari stepped up to the edge, peering down with her scope and counting off with taps of her finger against the grip. "Nice! You hit the krogan."

"Where was the krogan?" Roarke asked.

"Unconscious, next to our van."

"Some people never listen," Kasumi said. "And speaking of which, there are more mercs in the next room."

"Good, we haven't had enough fights," Grunt said eagerly.

"Right then, onward and upward. We should be almost to the bridge the asari mentioned," Neville said.

Emerging in the open room, they sprinted for cover as Eclipse mercs began opening fire almost before they were off the ramp. Still, the mercenaries barely had even numbers, and they did not have the equipment or skills to keep out the Normandy crew for long.

Having cleared the room, Neville headed towards the angry shouting on a comm panel as Kasumi looted the room for everything portable of value. "What is going on down there? Report!"

"Hello, Nassana. Not sure if you recognize this voice, but I am one of many known as Commander Shepard." He leaned against the console, staring up the ramp just in case.

"Shepard? What do you want? Did you send the assassin?"

"Nope, just here to find him and make him an offer. I don't suppose you'd tell your mercenaries to stop getting in the way of my bullets? It would make this so much faster." He waited several seconds, hearing nothing but static. "I didn't think so. Well?"

"We found two more salarians," Zaeed said as they approached. "One of them needs surgery. Idiot pointed a goddamn pistol at Grunt."

"They were not worthy opponents," Grunt agreed.

Neville shook his head. "Well, give him some medigel. The head bint knows we're coming, and seems to think we're helping the assassin. Which we are, by providing a distraction, if nothing else."

Outside, they gunned down several more mercenaries on their way around the edge of the building, then paused before the bridge. "Awfully windy up here," Sue said. "Be a shame if someone fell off."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Neville said. "Aim for the sides, everyone."

They stepped forward, and Sue let off a shockwave, tossing the first two mechs airborne, where they were swiftly swept away to tumble a hundred stories to their deactivations. The first merc ran into a concussive shot, the second to a krogan shoulder slam, and the third to a singularity.

This third one, being asari and faster on her feat than her human comrades, managed just barely to grab ahold of one of the building panels stacked up and down the bridge. The wind was enough to yank her away from the singularity once she was high enough from the floor, and she then dropped over the side, barely holding on by her fingertips.

Pari stepped over, looking down over the side at the asari clinging there. "I'm reminded of a nursery rhyme my mom would tell me, when she wasn't gone on freighter runs. This little piggy went to market," she said, grabbing one finger and pulling it loose from the panel. "This little piggy had tea," she continued, pulling loose another finger.

"Pari! We don't have time to play with them," Neville shouted, tossing a barrier up just in time to intercept a rocket.

Grumbling, the sniper grabbed the whole other hand and pulling it away, leaving the poor asari hanging by two fingertips. With a snarl, she let go, grabbing desperately to one of the struts, leaving her hanging loose, three meters down, barely still on the bridge. "Oh, come on! Just fall already!" Pari started to bring her sniper rifle to bear, but a rocket explosion nearby tossed her to the side as her shields almost failed.

"Damnit, move your ass!" Zaeed shouted, pulling her to cover before another rocket could detonate against her face. "The bitch is off the bridge, leave her be!"

Grumbling, she sighted on the flying rocket turret and blasted off the mass nullification module, sending it plummeting towards the ground, fortunately on the opposite side of the building from their van.

With the bridge now clear, they stormed into the building on the other side, they entered the elevator on the other side, Kasumi quickly hacking the panel to send them straight to the penthouse. When the doors opened, the three Eclipse mercs with Nassana were not quite shaking, but they weren't real eager about pointing their weapons at the intruders, either.

"You? Which Shepard were you? Doesn't matter. Who's paying you? I can double their offer," Nassana ranted.

"I actually meant it earlier. We're not here for you," Neville said.

"So there is another assassin? Someone was in the building before you arrived. How much to stop him?"

Smirking, he leaned against the side of a desk. "Well, we're not actually here for that, either."

"Then what do you want with me?" Nassana screamed.

Behind her, in near perfect silence, a drell dropped out of a ventilation shaft on the ceiling. Three drell touched the floor, each one taking a different bodyguard. The male grabbed one and snapped his neck; one of the females grabbed another by the neck, hand glowing as she crushed the asari's throat; the other female's omni-tool lit up as a holographic blade emerged, punching through the bottom of the man's jaw and into his brain.

Nassana whirled around, just in time for three pistols to emerge in three hands and execute three perfect shots. The results obliterated her head, blood and small pieces of bone and brain splattering off the barrier Neville erected. "That certainly was impressive," Neville said. Tilting his head, he stared as all three drell bowed their heads, lips moving in near silence.

"Are they praying?" Zaeed asked. "For her?"

"No," they answered in unison. "Not for her. For us."

Neville waited for a moment. "Well, you're all taking this well. Usually there's a bit more incredulous shock, possibly even a little mutual threatening of each other. You must be Thane, so you two are?"

All three drell seemed to communicate telepathically, despite the proven impossibility, before the male nodded. "I am Thane Krios. Someone calling himself the Illusive Man contacted me."

"I am Rolan Krios," the more brown-scaled of the two females replied. "Rather curious, as five minutes ago I was infiltrating a Reaper processing facility."

"Beol Krios," the other answered. "I was attempting to escape Omega before the Collectors could finish seizing control."

"Lovely," Roarke said. "Guess we know everyone's universe is pure shite."

"I'm Commander Shepard," Neville said. "Welcome to this universe. The Reapers are dead here, but someone else is using the Collectors and abducting entire colonies."

Both female drell exchanged another look. "Are they indoctrinating the populace?" Beol asked.

"Not that we can tell, but they are using seeker swarms to put everyone in stasis. If you'll accompany us to our ship, when everyone else gets back we can fill you all in." Neville stepped forward, holding out a hand. Thane was the last to shake, his doubles more familiar with the human gesture. "Welcome to the Normandy."

Leaving the building, they ignored the groaning krogan and piled in. Ten people and seven deactivated Loki mechs made it a crowded ride, but the credits would be worth it.

Dossier: Rolan

Like Thane, Rolan possesses biotic ability, but unlike the other two she is not a sniper. Her combat skills for the hanar were structured around biotics and the technical skills needed to access spaces illegally. As a result, she is the only Krios who specializes in up close assassination, preferring to use her biotics, poisons, or compromising life support or security systems. Like Thane, she also suffers from Kepral Syndrome, though her symptoms are not as advanced, possibly owing to differing training regimens. Her scales run more towards dark browns with hints of green.

Dossier: Beol

Unlike the other two Krioses, Beol has no biotic potential at all. Like Thane, she is an accomplished sniper, but she has also far surpassed him with her technical skills. Her omni-tool blade programs have already been disseminated through Cerberus channels to all operatives. Her coloring is closer to Thanes, being mostly green but with more gold-tinted highlights around her frills.