And here we go. Hope y'all enjoy and don't forget to Review at the end.

Btw, this is the longest chapter of the story so far. ENJOY!

POV: Torchbearer

It had been a day since I had gotten my plan together for my grand introduction to Illium and it was a day before the auction. The auctioneers had just finished putting all the 'indentured servants' in their holding area in the basement of the building. Good for me so I wouldn't have to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire. They were guarded by 3 Eclipse soldiers and that was it. Made my job easier so I wasn't complaining.

As for the auctioneers themselves they were doing the final setting up of the auction and I was just waiting. Waiting for the one in charge of this operation to show himself. A Blood Pack Krogan who had gotten good at swindling people in contracts. No one would suspect a Krogan to be screwing them over with a contract, most would just think he was an idiot.

The Krogan, Jindok Crukar, was anything but dumb. He had built himself a small empire of indentured servants and slaves while in the Blood Pack. Would even give the other big mercenary groups cuts of the profits if they did the security. He didn't trust the Vorcha to be of much help and I couldn't blame him.

That was only for indentured servants however. When he had slaves he only used Blood Pack members and all Krogan ones for that fact. Meaning that if there was a time to hit him it would be now. Send the message hard and fast and as much as I wanted to hit him when the clients would actually be there it wasn't a good idea.

For a myriad of reasons it wasn't a good idea. Chief among them being that most of the clients were highly influential members of Illium. I liked my chances fighting and evading them but not when they had the money and influence to send the entire police force after me. That much heat would undoubtedly be my downfall. Not to mention that if one of the police got caught in the crossfire then there would be hell to pay everywhere I went except for Omega.

So, going after him now while he was putting the finishing touches on the auction was the best plan for me. It was just a matter of waiting until he showed up.

As for the indentured servants I had finished doing my research on them. There were a few that I would leave behind as they had earned their place there. The Asari who stole her subordinates' pensions wasn't leaving, neither was the Batarian for obvious reasons. Those were the only two I had decided would be left behind, the rest would be their choice to leave or not.

Most of them would no doubt take the opportunity to get the hell out of there. Jindok had all their contracts and once he was dealt with their contracts would be erased. Leaving nothing for anyone to know about why they were there in the first place, hell it would look like they were kidnapped. There would be some I suspected would stay, the ones with heavy debts. I couldn't just erase some of them, they were held by outside contractors and out of my reach.

Looking down from the top of the building I sat on the ledge with my legs dangling off and the construction equipment behind me I saw a fancy car pull up. It stopped and stayed at the entrance of the building for a few moments before the door opened and out stepped Jindok. Clad in a rather sharp suit for a Krogan, even if it did look ridiculous on him.

Smiling beneath my helmet my omni-tool lit up on my arm from a small impulse from Sam. It showed me the camera feeds on the floor where the auction would be held. Getting out the detonator I intently watched the feeds and waited for Jindok. A minute or so later the elevator doors opened and he stepped through alone. Still, I waited for the elevator. Once it closed and started to go down I hit the detonator.

The supports for the industrial crane blew apart along with the floor below it and it fell. The crashing sounds it made as it plummeted through the building, slowly at first but increasing in speed, were tremendous. Every floor shattered beneath its weight and I got a front row seat to see Jindok look up in confusion at first and then panic. Along the way down it seemed to hit a support beam but instead of stopping it just started spinning on its way down and created a lot more destruction.

Soon enough it arrived at his floor and crashed right onto him and stopped. I was a bit surprised at that but shrugged it off, must've hit another support beam and just didn't have enough momentum. From how it looked though it put a hefty dent into the beam but just couldn't break through it. Either way, Jindok was trapped and everyone else who had been there fled, leaving him all alone.

Knowing I didn't have a great amount of time I got up and ran to the hole and hooked a rope around one of the other machines up there and then rappelled down. I had gotten the rope last night, one of Frank's contacts on Illium had given it to me at a discount and with straight cash… or credit chits in this case. Untraceable.

Either way, a minute later I landed on the floor. Undoing the rope around me I walked over to where Jindok was pinned beneath the crane. Stepping onto the crane to stand above the downed Krogan he was surprisingly still alive. Soon to be dead but he was still alive.

"Come to gloat Torchbearer?" he coughed out. I just sighed, gloating was for idiots.

"No."

Kneeling down on top of the crane I activated my omni-tool. The encryption he had on his omni-tool was above average but it wasn't a match for me. Electroshock teaching from Ceelo ensured his encryption was child's play for me. It took me 15 seconds to have all of the info on it including the contracts. I then purged his omni-tool destroying all the information it held.

With my job done I took out my 1911 and put it between his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak or say something but he never got the words out, I pulled the trigger and his head popped open. Grabbing the casing I pocketed it before going to the rope and lighting it on fire with my Torch construct. Releasing the construct I shot my symbol and message to stand on Jindok's body. The message read: put a bow on it or not, slavery is still slavery chucklefucks.

With that done I went to the elevator doors and hacked them open. Leaping across the empty shaft I grabbed the ladder on the far side. Putting my hands and feet on the side I slid all the way down. Stopping every third or so floor so I wouldn't go too fast. It wasn't the fastest way down doing it that way but I didn't want to get hurt.

Soon enough I reached the basement of the building. Getting off the elevator I quietly hacked the elevator doors open and brought out my Mattock rifle. With the rifle in my hands I entered the system with my omni-tool and shut off all the lights in the basement. Now, to just get to the 'indentured servants'.

Crouching low and stalking forward I followed the path I had pre mapped to their location. It was smooth sailing almost the whole way there. The only blip was when one of the Eclipse guards was walking around checking the perimeter, I assumed only doing so since the lights went off. This had been expected though and as soon as I saw him I got back into cover and waited for him to get close.

Putting my rifle down on the ground so he would hear the parts shifting if I put it on my back I brought out my knife. They didn't even notice me in the corner as they walked right on by, it would be their last mistake. Just as they didn't notice me when they walked by they didn't notice me as I got behind them, kicked out their right knee and then slammed the knife through their lightswitch. They were dead before they even knew what was going on.

Leaving the dead body where it lay I put my knife away, picked up my rifle and made my way to the 'indentured servants'. As I got to where they were I hacked the door open and had my rifle at the ready. One of the Eclipse soldiers had been watching the door and waiting for anything.

Still, it was too dark to make out if it was his buddy or not and that cost him. Faster than they could react I squeezed off four shots right to their head and they dropped like a box of rocks. Not wasting time I pulled out my knife and charged the other Eclipse soldier as she turned around and readied her biotics.

Dodging her weak push I leapt at her and tackled her to the ground before slamming my knife through her barrier and neck. She choked and gasped on her own blood for a few moments before falling still. Again my augmetic arm had hummed when she used her biotics. I should really try to find out what the cause was.

With all the guards dead I stood and turned the lights back on from my omni-tool. Looking at the cages that everyone was in I sighed. All 23 of them were now standing and looking at me. The youngest of which was a Quarian, no older than 17, who must've just gotten on her Pilgrimage. The oldest was definitely the Asari but she would be staying here for what she had done.

"Are there any of you who wish to stay?" I asked and they all looked between each other confused for a moment but no one spoke up. "All your contract's are now in my omni-tool, if you wish to leave your contract's will disappear and you will be free. Are there any of you who wish to stay?"

No one responded at first but the young Quarian girl slowly raised her hand. "My contract has already been bought from a tech company. They have my information already."

"What company?"

"Delumcore Systems," they were on the up and up. Good.

"Anyone else?"

No one else raised their hands and I opened the door, deleting their contracts as they left their cage. One by one they left until it was just the Asari who was going to be staying and the Batarian who would also be staying, with the Quarian who had volunteered to stay. I stared them both down as they approached the door and they both backed up expectantly. They looked hurt and mad but that wasn't my problem, think of the consequences of your actions.

They took one look at me outside the cage and decided against it. I was kinda disappointed but at the same time I understood. My reputation was well earned at this point. Nodding to them both for having the dignity to accept their punishment. With that done I locked the cage and led the escapees to where their personal belongings were being stashed. It was only a few doors down.

They quickly got their personal effects, indentured servants were allowed their stuff back after they got bought. Once everyone had their stuff, it took 3 minutes, I led them out to the back of the building. With everyone outside I sent each of them 5,000 credits. It was chump change for me at the moment and a few of them tried to thank me but I just waved it off.

As soon as I was given the opportunity and they weren't looking I disappeared. A few looked around confused, but most smiled and went on their way. I let a small smile hang at my lips for a few moments as I saw them leave. That's my job done.

Once they had all left I made my way back to my place. I was still learning Nos Astra, Illium's capital, but it had been surprisingly easy all things considered. Nos Astra's city was designed a lot like New York's, very easy to get around and know where you were. It had the negative that it was a lot heavier surveillanced with cameras everywhere but you always knew where you were.

Still, it made getting back to my place without being seen harder. I had to use the program I had used during my first job once and it didn't sit well that I had too. If it was used too many times they could create a countermeasure to it. I needed to find better routes so that didn't happen.

Anyways it took just about 2 hours to get back to my place. A run down apartment complex in the bowels of the city. Broken and dilapidated I was surprised that the place hadn't been destroyed but it hadn't. It was right below the main shuttle port and couldn't be built as high as most of the other buildings so I assumed that was the reason. If they're going to build it's going to be grand, not stopped by the shuttle port.

Going inside I kept my helmet on and went to the basement where my base was. It still wasn't ready as a whole base but it would take too long to do so. This place was more or less just a safe house and research center. Basic furniture and appliances; couch and bed with a stove and fridge. That was it and that's all I needed.

Walking up to the wall I looked over my target list and crossed Jindok out. He had been a big player but he wasn't the biggest. A lot of the bigger ones here were fish I couldn't really go after until I had either an escape route or an endgame to work with. As for now it was just about undercutting everyone.

Though, that was just the slavers portion. As for the companies and people who bought these 'indentured servants' I needed to research them. There were few laws protecting these 'indentured servants' but there were laws and I was going to use them. At the very least I would follow the ones I knew were breaking these laws and get evidence.

Once I had evidence of them breaking those laws I would get the evidence to the police. However, if the police decided to do nothing then it would be me who stepped in. If that happened then I would release the evidence afterward and embarrass the police. Corruption has no use here, especially within the police force.

Looking at the list next up was the Asari I had mentioned early, her name was Numiy Sesan, the one using her indentured servants for smuggling. I already had a few snippets of information about it but nothing concrete. For what I could find though she was in Nos Astra and had bought some new 'indentured servants' from the other side of the planet. If she was going to do something it would be soon.

That was for tomorrow though. Now it was time to sleep.

Waking up the morning after was a bit of an experience. Not that anything happened or someone found out where I was but because of the news. They were all over Jindok's death and they were not happy about the partial destruction of the building. That being said, they were mostly indifferent to Jindok's death. What I'm getting at is that it was really weird for me when they were more mad about the property damage than the death. Didn't even mention the 'indentured servants' escaping.

Pushing it out of my mind I put on some makeup and gloves and left my place. First stop was a small Asari food truck, it wasn't the best food but it was cheap and not terrible so I grabbed a bite to eat. After that I made my way up to the actual market where they sold technologies. I didn't stay and just walked through it to the shuttle port.

From there I rented a shuttle and slowly flew it around Nos Astra. Stopping in public garages a few times I waited until I spotted Numiy's aircar. It was about 3pm standard time here when I saw it and had been driving for 4 hours.

That didn't matter though and as soon as I had spotted the aircar I started following it. I wasn't about to follow it the whole way however and started driving a bit erratically. Looking like someone who was late for a meeting, erratic but not crazy. Using this pattern I got close to her aircar and put a bug into its system. With that done I sped off and pulled into a garage, waited for a few minutes before going back out and made my way back to the shuttle port.

The bug that I put into her system was a close copy of the one Ceelo had used to call for help. However, instead of going on distance it would send me its location every time the car stopped for more than a minute. My bug used the same system as Ceelo's for getting info back to me however instead of comm buoys it would ping the info off random omni-tools back to me. Completely untraceable.

With my job for the day done I returned the air car and made my way back to my place. Different way back then how I got here so it took a little longer but it didn't matter to me. Getting to my place and heading inside I set up my terminal, attached the program from my omni-tool and waited.

As I waited I decided to make myself an early dinner. A sandwich with some questionable looking meat from the store. It wasn't bad at all, just looked really weird. As I was making my sandwich my omni-tool started beeping. Someone was trying to call me but it wasn't coming from my mentors, Tali or Wrex. Who could it be?

Locking down my omni-tool so they wouldn't be able to trace me I put on my helmet and answered the call. Looking at the screen Liara appeared on my screen. Her face was stern and resolute, guess she had already given Shepard's body over. I felt for her, I truly did but why was she calling me.

"I see you're already on Illium," she spoke her voice serene but hard.

"Yep. What's this about Miss T'Soni?"

"I may have need of you in the future. Can I count on you?"

"Of course… but I don't work for free," she gave a sly smile at that and then cut the link.

Fantastic. No telling how that would shape out. Guess only time will tell now. Not the time to worry about it.

Pushing those thoughts away I grabbed my weapons and went back to my terminal. Setting the weapons on the desk I began to clean and take care of all of them. It was more out of compulsion and something to do than anything else to be honest. So that's what I did for the next several hours as my program did it's job.

At the end of the day I went over all the locations that my program had sent me. Most were all in areas where nothing suspect could be done like parking garages or her company's building. That left only 2 locations that something could happen.

One was a warehouse next to a rather well known Eclipse base. They acted like the Batarian government with their people and disavowed anyone who was caught doing unlawful things so they were able to slide under Nos Astra's laws. Didn't mean they were clean though and everyone fucking knew it. I'd be coming for them sooner or later.

The other location was only a couple blocks from me. No one really bothered to go there because it wasn't safe by the largest of margins but I knew what was there. It was a Red Sand kitchen. They made the stuff there. I would've already destroyed it if I didn't know about Numiy and her smuggling.

Either way, it seemed I had my info. Now it was just about waiting and getting into position. First I set up a program on my terminal through my omni-tool. Taking off my augmetic arm I laid it on the desk and let the program do it's thing. It would create several small video and audio recording devices with omni-gel. With that in mind I went to bed.

I got just around 6 hours of sleep and woke up at 4 in the morning. Once I was up I grabbed some small ration bars and geared up. After I was geared up I went to the first location arriving just around 0530. Watching the patrols for about 20 minutes I summed up that I had enough info and went in.

Inside the warehouse there were the people that had been bought by Numiy. All crowded together in a cage and looked like they hadn't been fed in a couple days. They only had one toilet to share too so as you can guess they weren't living in the best of conditions. This was slavery.

That wasn't the end of it though. In the middle of the warehouse there were workers putting Red Sand into custom pockets on clothes. Clothes that indentured servants wore. Even if Red Sand was legal on Illium this amount wasn't so all I had to do was set up the camera's now. Still, seeing this and how these people were being treated infuriated me to no end.

I couldn't break them out though. I hadn't planned on it and had no escape route. Could I have done it, yes. Would Numiy have gone to ground if that happened, also yes, and after a bit she would've done the exact same thing. No, I needed to cut the head off of the snake here.

A few minutes later I was done setting up all the recorders and silently made my way out of the warehouse. No one saw me, no one even suspected that I had been there.

Leaving the warehouse and heading to the kitchen took only about an hour to get there. Getting there it became obvious that the security here was a lot higher than the warehouse had been. Guess you can always rely on tweekers being overly paranoid, no matter the drug or location.

Standing in the shadows across from the kitchen I looked the place over. They had trip sensors all along the perimeter along with a few mines within the perimeter. Not to mention a sniper up top on the building and 3 two man guard patrols the whole time. These guys weren't messing around with their security.

I quickly realized that getting in there without killing anyone was basically a pipe dream. Even knocking someone out wouldn't be a good call unless they got isolated which they weren't. Every patrol stuck together like glue and after 9 hours of sitting and watching nothing had changed. They even changed the guards without a schedule. It was actually impressive to be honest.

Once the sun had gone down I decided to try something. Walking to the alley behind the kitchen without being noticed by anyone I hacked into the security for the building next door. After that was done I made my way back to where I had watched the security.

Once they changed a patrol I overloaded the security for the building over. It short circuited and brought down the lights for the whole block. Smiling to myself I made my way into their perimeter. Following the footsteps of their patrol so as to not step on anything I found the entrance and stepped inside.

My time was already running out as I got inside so I set up only a singular camera in the kitchen. It was right about the entrance and once that was done I made my way back out. Like before no one noticed me at all. It wasn't ideal but it was something. Numiy, if she visited again, would have to go through the entrance.

With my work done for the day I left and got back to my place. Taking off my helmet I turned on my terminal and connected my omni-tool. It showed me all the feeds of the cameras. Smiling to myself I went through the feed at the warehouse for the day. My omni-tool had pinged around noon telling me Numiy had visited the warehouse.

After a few minutes of looking sure enough Numiy had indeed gone into the warehouse. Hell, she had even given one of the Red Sand filled shirts to one of the indentured servants. The audio was perfect too. She admitted it, completely and utterly. If she wasn't arrested on some form of charge for this she would die.

It got even better around midnight because one of her assistants went into the kitchen and grabbed a box of Red Sand. Then delivered it to the warehouse. This was an absolute slam dunk and only ever took a day. I really couldn't be happier.

Not long after I saw the assistant on the feed I went to bed. The next morning I compiled the data and evidence and made my way to the police station. I wasn't stupid enough to walk in their and give it to them. That would be way to telling.

Instead, I waited at the cafe a block or so over and waited for one of them to make a coffee run. They did have coffee in the station but sooner or later one of them would go here. Sure enough at about 9am one of the detectives did. A certain Detective Anaya, yea the one from Samara's intro.

Hacking into her omni-tool I dropped the package of evidence. Leaving the file as a notification on her omni-tool I signed it with my signature Torch on the file. I timed it so that she got the notification right after she sat down with her Turian partner with her coffee.

Looking at her omni-tool she stilled for a moment before looking around. My back was turned as I had been following her through the reflection in the window. Making it seem like I was just looking outside. Either way after she didn't see anything she opened the file. After a few minutes she stood up and left with her partner.

I couldn't stop the smile that reached my lips.

A week later Numiy was arrested. Charged on smuggling of Red Sand, mistreatment of Indentured Servants and working with an illegal Red Sand kitchen. Hell, even the kitchen was shut down. There had been a firefight at the place but against several ex-commando's, now SWAT officers, they stood no chance. Biotics are stupidly overpowered.

Now, I am onto my next job. An Eclipse group had taken it upon themselves to start smuggling in Red Sand, massive amounts. Now, normally I wouldn't care that much if they sold to regular people. You'll never eliminate the drug trade, just won't happen, but they were selling to kids. Not only that but they were using some of the kids as their drug runners.

I had already done my research on some of the kids and it broke my heart to see that some of them needed to be drug runners. Orphans without a better alternative or ones so poor it

was their only chance at getting out. There had to be a way I could help them before they fell too deep down the rabbit hole.

For the life of me though I couldn't find a way to sustain them. Sure I could give them money but for how long would it last? That was what I spent most of my week thinking about. Taking out the Eclipse group was the easy part. I already had a plan for that but helping these kids was the hard part.

Eventually I decided to go the Red Jenny route. From Dragon Age: Inquisition there was a character who created a network of information by employing just average people. This is what I would do for these kids and pay them for their services for info they brought me. That only left the problem of what would happen to them once I left. It was sad but my only real solution, they already had all the facilities here to get better, they just had to use them and work hard at it.

So with that decided yesterday I now set outside where the Eclipse group had set up. Right near the ship port in a warehouse. There were about 20 Eclipse in total; 8 Asari, 3 Salarian, 2 Turian, and 7 Humans. A Turian and Salarian were standing guard outside smoking.

Readying an Overload I shot it into the middle of the two and immediately their shields went down. Two shots later to the dome and they were both dead before anyone could be the wiser. Perk of being near the Docks was that it was hard for anyone to hear what you were doing, it also worked negatively if you were being attacked. Even more negatively if I was a good 100 meters away.

Going up to the door, I opened it and quietly made my way inside. Right inside the door a Turian was smoking and looking at the door. We were both surprised to see each other but I was quicker. Shooting forward I raised my gun into his face and pulled the trigger. His brain exploding out the other end and telling everyone I was here.

Cursing under my breath I immediately darted to the side where I knew the lights didn't work. Getting into the shadows I waited for them to move up and either investigate or fan out. They ended up doing both, now it was just about picking them off.

The first to go was another one of the Salarians. He wandered just a bit too far from his patrol mate to the shadows, never saw the knife in his neck until he was dead. Once he was dead I waited for his buddy to come to him and sure enough he did. A human this time and as he got close I hacked into his omni-tool and jacked into their comm channel.

Just as he was calling it in I jumped out of the shadows, put my AR to his head and blew it off. Again it resulted in everyone knowing where I was but that was fine. I now had their comms.

Disappearing among the boxes of the warehouse out of the shadows I listened to the comms and made my way to the Asari. Now, they were surprisingly the most amateurish of the group. The Salarians and Humans left had at least a semblance of military background but the Asari did not. They were undisciplined and couldn't even check their corners properly. Let alone cover their partner. That made picking them off, even in the light easy. They had to be young.

Didn't matter to me and within only a few minutes I had reduced the original 8 to just 2. Those two being the ones in charge of the operation as they directed the whole of the group on the coms. After the rest of their Asari didn't say anything on Coms they assumed they were dead and called the remaining 5 humans and 1 Salarian back to regroup. They never got the chance.

As they made their way back to the two in charge they went back in two groups of three. The first group got an overload and then a singular grenade into the middle of them. Their bodies were shredded instantly.

The remaining group saw where I had thrown the grenade from and tried to suppress me. I simply waited until I heard one of the Asari saying she was about to send a singularity. A moment later I felt my augmetic hand start to hum and I took that as a cue to bolt, which I did.

Running straight at the final group of three I shot an Overload at them. It only caught two of them but that was enough. One shot for each of the ones hit by the Overload and they went down like a sack of bricks. The final human tried to engage me in melee but it wasn't much of a challenge.

He dropped his gun and stabbed at me with his knife. I dodged it and trapped the arm with my right hand keeping my AR in hand. Leaving my augmetic to smash into his helmet caving it in. He groaned in pain and my augmetic hand hummed again. Swirling around with the human I used him as a body shield for the biotic attack. He took the full brunt of the Warp the Asari had tried to attack me with.

Surprisingly, the human stayed standing after he had been hit. I remedied that by releasing his trapped arm, bringing up my AR and punching a whole through his head. Once that was done his body dropped to the floor and the two Asari and I looked between each other. Their weapons aimed at me and mine at them.

"So the Torchbearer picked us. May I ask why?" the seemingly older of the two asked.

"Selling to kids."

I didn't wait for a response fired at the younger one. The older didn't move and charged up her biotics for another attack as the younger one jumped into cover. The older one then sent a shockwave at me, exploding through the floor as it came at me. Extremely deadly but slow and I was expecting it.

Diving out of the way I grabbed another grenade off my bandolier and chucked it at where the younger one was. Once that was done I charged the older one. Wreathing herself in biotic energy she met my charge with pistol in hand. Each of us lowering our shoulders as we charged, we connected. The hit was jarring but we both recovered quickly but she was quicker.

She sent a haymaker to my face but I leaned back dodging the attack and elbow blocked her follow up pistol whip. With a little room I fired my AR, splashing against her barrier harmlessly but it was to the head so it jerked her head back.

I used this opening and slammed my augmetic hand into her stomach. As I did so my arm hummed even louder than ever before but I shut it out of my mind. Doubling over from the force of the hit I raised my elbow and brought it down on the back of her neck sending her to the ground.

Stomping on her head once shattering her barrier I raised my AR to finish the fight but I got hit by a concussive round and was sent sprawling backwards. Rolling with the momentum to get back up I saw the other Asari, bloody but still alive, looking at me. She kept firing too but with her weapon against my shields it wasn't enough to make a difference. Simply because my gun was better.

A Mattock against whatever she had, it was no contest. A concussive shot plus 20ish shots she got on me brought my shields down 75%. However, 3 shots to her face from my Mattock and she had to take cover so I wouldn't kill her.

Charging at the Asari in cover just as the older one was starting to get back up. As I passed her I dropped a grenade next to her and kept on charging the other one. Leaping over the cover she was using she seemed surprised to see me. She got a face full of boot just as my grenade went off behind me.

Tumbling backwards she landed on her back. Raising a hand towards me she began to speak but I didn't listen and just pulled the trigger on my Mattock. Her brain decorated the floor below her. Whirling around to see if the Asari had lived through the grenade I was happy to see she hadn't. Her right arm was gone along with a good portion of her chest.

With that done I put my AR away, brought up my signature and shot it into the middle of the warehouse. Two words with it: No kids.

Guessing that the kids who were their drug runners would find the bodies before anyone else I left a letter hanging on the doorknob telling them to meet me at the food truck near my place in two days time. Definitely sounded a bit Pedo but I promised them a way to make money so there's that… that honestly makes it sound worse.

I spent the next hour or so getting back to my place. When I did I decided not to go to sleep and instead watch the mission again. My arm had hummed considerably louder when I hit the Asari. I wanted to see if anything had happened.

"Sam, can you pull up the fight with the Asari from earlier please," I said as soon as I reached the terminal in my place.

Of course pilot. Just hook me into the Terminal.

Taking off my helmet I did just that. Immediately the feed came up and it showed the fight. I skipped to the part where I hit her. Now, since she was doubled over I could only see a part of my augmetic arm but that wasn't what caught my attention.

No, when I hit the Asari and she doubled over her once bright purple barrier dimmed significantly. Looking at the part of my arm I could see below her doubled over form it was glowing purple. Lifting my arm to my eyes I examined it but nothing was going on at the moment. What the hell?

"Sam, you ever seen anything like this?"

No pilot.

Before we could talk anymore my arm lit up orange activating the omni-tool. Looking at it, there wasn't a message; Liara was calling me again. Leaning back in my chair I answered her call.

"Torchbearer, I have a job for you," I gave a wave of my hand signalling her to go on. "A human female by the name of Daria Alexeyev recently escaped from her… master while his ship was in system. She made it to Nos Astra and was able to get a message to her father, the client, before she landed. He knows about our relationship from the news of the Normandy and asked for you specifically through me. He wants you to get her safely off the planet."

"I don't have a ship," I responded. It was true Volio had dropped me off on Illium.

"Don't worry, that is taken care of; just get her to Dock 59L. I will have transport ready."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She was last seen near the Red Sand kitchen, that was shut down last week, 2 hours ago," well shit talk about coincidences.

"Consider it done. Send me her face," she nodded and did so. She had short black hair and vibrant blue eyes, she was very attractive all things considered.

I prepared to go back out but Liara coughed getting my attention.

"The client is offering a bonus for killing her pursuer and former captor. Batarian by the name Koto Befraroh and he is illegally hunting her on Illium so no one will bat an eye at his death," my smile was positively giddy.

"She'll be at the dock in no time. Make sure the engine is running," and I cut the call there.

Grabbing my helmet I strapped it on, grabbed my AR, sniper and 1911 then left my place. Immediately making my way to the kitchen with the intention of picking up her trail. However, Koto was already there with a squad of Batarians and 2 Varren. Now, I could've taken them out then and there but decided not to.

I wasn't the best tracker and I still hadn't memorized Illium's structure so finding her before them wasn't the best option. Instead, my plan was to just follow them and wait for the opportunity. They would eventually find her.

A slave who just escaped and wouldn't be in the best shape trying to navigate Nos Astra. While being hunted by a Batarian slaver with a squad and varren that were, presumably, experienced in doing this. Yeah, she wouldn't get far. Better to just hunt the hunters and wait.

So that's exactly what I did. Spent the next few hours stalking the Batarians as they hunted this poor girl. For the most part they did it quietly and professionally. Not making a fuss about anything and kept their search consistent, never taking a break. However, they did run into a police officer an hour in.

Koto had a quick conversation with the officers before he sent them some money. I could tell from a distance that's exactly what they did thanks to all their omni-tools lighting up. Upon seeing this I made sure that Sam stamped the transaction so I could find it in the recording later. Detective Anaya would have them or I would, that would be made clear.

Continuing to follow them they made their way to another dilapidated building where the varren sat down. Walking up to the dogs Koto patted them on the head before parking out orders to his squad. Two of them went around the building with one of the Varren while the other two went straight in with the second Varren. Koto stayed where he was outside and waited.

Seeing this as my moment I went into action. I started about 100 or so meters away from them and stalked towards the building making sure to stay in cover and out of sight. Doing so, I decided to leave Koto for last and went around the back of the building to where the other two Batarians were and single Varren.

As I got around the building I spotted them. The two Batarians were just watching the building 50 or so feet from it with the Varren between them. Backtracking a bit I went into the alley and made my way to get behind them.

Getting behind them was a bit harder than anticipated and I had to wait it out for a few minutes to move into the final position. The Varren had started sniffing the air putting the guards on alert but after a few moments stopped and the guards relaxed. If this had been the jungle and not an urban environment with a bunch of different smells they would've known they were being stalked thanks to the Varren.

With that out of the way though and me behind them I had to do this at least partially quietly. So shooting wasn't really in the cards but my construct and knife definitely were. Getting them both out I readied myself and charged the Batarians from behind.

The Varren was the first to hear me but it was just a bit too late for it. As I got close I lept at them and they all turned around. The one on my left got cracked across by my augmetic arm and crumpled to the floor. With the momentum of the punch I plunged the construct into the head of the Varren cooking and killing it instantly. The final got his neck stabbed by knife and by the time my feet hit the ground they were all dead. I wish someone else besides me had seen that, that was awesome!

Just to confirm the kill I sliced the throat of the unconscious Batarian and took out his comm. I hacked into their comms and set a bug into them. Their comms were not completely scrambled and they wouldn't be able to call for help or reinforcements. Then I headed into the building.

Getting inside I followed the sounds of the Batarians and their Varren pet. Arriving to the floor where the sounds were the loudest I slowly made my around stalking them as best I could until I found one of them, alone. He was so focused on looking for the girl he never noticed me sneak up on him, in his defense though I was near ghostly silent. Still, he got a knife through his lightswitch for his trouble.

As soon as I lowered the Batarian down after killing him I heard screams. Running through the hallway to where the screams had come from I lowered my shoulder and broke straight through the worn down wall. Appearing right in front of Daria, the Batarian who was grabbing her arm and the Varren.

For a moment no one did anything, then everyone was moving. The Varren lept at me and I raised my augmetic arm up as it brought its teeth down on it. It's teeth broke on impact and it fell down whimpering. With the Varren taken care of I dived at the Batarian tackling him away from Daria.

He got lucky though and was able to get on top of me and hit my gun away. Not bothering to worry about that I punched him across the face with my right hand before flipping us over with me on top. Then the Varren came back and jumped on top of me trying to bite into my shoulder.

Thank God for my armor plating or that would've been a bitch to take care of later on. Either way as the Varren tried to bite into my shoulder the Batarian below me took advantage and started punching me, again the armor protected me for the most part but it still hurt a bit.

Throwing the Varren off me I plunged back down at the Batarian connecting with my augmetic arm on his face. With my weight, plus the armors weight, plus the metal of my arm and the force of the punch his face got caved in with one punch. It was not a pretty sight and he went limp immediately.

With that nuisance taken care of I ripped my knife out of its sheathe and dived at the recovering Varren. Landing on top of it I pinned it to the ground before stabbing into it a few times and then some to make sure it wouldn't get up. Taking a few deep breaths after it was done I stood up and turned to look at Daria who was huddling in a corner.

She had sunken eyes and looked like hell. Her once vibrant eyes had dulled but there was still life there which was good. She also had quite a few new scars showing along her arms and shoulders. The ones on her shoulders traveled to her back under her shirt and I suspected whipping but wasn't about to ask. Her head had also been completely shaven. Still, she may have looked like hell but she was still attractive.

Kneeling in front of her I reached out my hand. She pushed herself away from me trying to get as far away from me as possible. Her whole being emanated fear and apprehension. Fuck the Batarians.

"Hey, it's okay. Your father sent me, I'm here for you," I kept my hand out towards her in a reassuring manner.

"You're Torchbearer… right?" She meekly said. I nodded my head responding.

"Yeah, I am."

"What about master?" Oh I was fuming at that but kept it in check for her sake.

"His name is Koto and I saved him for last. We need to get you out of here though. Will you come with me?"

Slowly she nodded and took my hand. That was the best I was going to get and lead her down to the entrance of the building. I stopped short of the entrance and told Daria to wait in the corner for my call. Nodding her head she curled up into a ball in a darkened corner near the entrance.

Stepping outside Koto saw me and squared his shoulders towards me. Neither of us said anything as I started walking towards him and I pulled out my knife. Stopping a few feet in front of him with my knife out he tried to stare me down. It was honestly pathetic.

"I'm su-" that was as far as he got before I ran at him.

He, of course, had been expecting it but just like all those months ago with Balak this man was the same. He was a straight brawler and I'm not sure he had ever actually been taught how to fight. The fight was pathetically easy and before long I had neutralized his left arm by stabbing through the nerve cluster controlling it and broken his right arm.

Just after I had broken his right arm I grabbed him by the front of his armor and slammed my helmet into his face breaking his nose. I then kicked out his left leg and slammed him face first into the ground. Holding him there I called out to Daria.

"Daria! Come out here," shouting out the words I saw her peek around the corner. Slowly she came out and made her way to us as I held Koto down on the ground. As she got to within a few feet of us I yanked Koto to his knees before letting go and walking to Daria. Reaching behind my back I brought out my 1911 and offered it to her.

"Do you want to do it?"

She looked at the offered gun for a moment, indecision written all over her face but then her eyes changed. The previously dull eyes became full of fire and I couldn't stop my smile. She grabbed the gun, levelled it at Koto and didn't even hesitate. Put it right between his eyes.

Silence dominated the air for a second after she pulled the trigger. Then the dam broke and she started screaming as she walked towards the body emptying the mag. Even kept pulling the trigger afterwards.

Slowly she started to slow the amount of times she pulled the trigger and before long she collapsed to the ground sobbing. Thinking on what Shepard would do I got down behind her and gently pulled her into a hug from behind whispering that it was over. She seemed to cry even harder at that. She proceeded to cry for what must've been 10 minutes before finally stopping. When she stopped I gently pried my gun from her hands and stood her up.

"Let's get you home," She nodded and I slowly took her back to my place. I took a picture of Koto's body before leaving to confirm the kill.

When we reached my place I put my guns away with the exception of my 1911 before changing into some regular clothes. Putting on my gloves too I was ready to get her to dock 59L. First stop was the shuttle port where I rented one and then went to the dock. It was smooth sailing and no one did anything to us. Parking next to the dock I walked her to the ship where an older, rugged human was waiting next to a ship for us.

"He'll take you the rest of the way Daria. Don't worry he's trustworthy," she looked between the man and me apprehensively before enveloping me in a hug.

"I'll never forget this."

"You're welcome," and then she got on the ship. The pilot closed the door behind her and then they took off.

I watched them all the way until they were out of eyesight. Once they were I drove the shuttle back to the shuttle port, dropped it off and then went back to my place. Getting inside I made to call Liara but she beat me too it and called me.

"Thank you Wynne," were the first words out of her mouth. "Her father is a rather influential man and will be beneficial towards both me and you for this."

"I'm just happy she's going home. How much do you trust that pilot by the way?"

"Not completely but he's a smuggler and he's been doing it for most of his life so he knows how to keep his mouth shut."

"Koto is dead too by the way. I'll send over the picture in a moment," I played with my omni-tool for a moment and then sent the picture of Koto's corpse to her. She took one look at it and let out a satisfied smirk at seeing it.

"Good. You'll be receiving your payment and bonus as soon as the client pays."

"Fantastic," I made to cut the connection and go to bed but she cleared her throat getting my attention. "Yes?"

"I don't know if you're aware but the woman you just rescued was the daughter of the man you did your first job for. He told me that if you succeeded he would like to contact you to thank you personally. Would you be okay with that?" Ain't this a small galaxy. Who would've known.

"Give me his contact info. I'll call him tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll be sending over his info now," and she did so before continuing. "Just to let you know she won't be home for about two days and Illium is 6 hours ahead of Earth for time."

"Thanks. Don't hesitate for other jobs like this or if someone who deserves it needs to be taken care of. Okay Liara," She smiled at me before responding.

"Of Course Wynne," and then she cut the connection.

As soon as she cut the connection I slumped down in my chair. I was so goddamn tired. This was just the beginning though.

POV: Miranda Lawson.

Standing in front of my carefully handpicked squad I stared them all down. They had literally one job and I'll be damned if they fail. Then again they were essentially being sent to fail to gather more info on him for us.

"Get Torchbearer alive and bring him here. Failure is not an option. Mr. Sing, you're in charge."

"Not joining us ma'am?" Mr. Sing asked.

"No, I have another job to do. Now go."

Dismissing them I watched them go. As they left I knew that I wouldn't be seeing them again. Torchbearer was becoming something more. From the medical records we were able to get his whole nervous system was changing, different from any humans before. It was honestly fascinating to see just from the small bits we were able to obtain.

Not only was his nervous system changing but there were traces of Eezo within his blood and even his dna. Then there was that new arm of his. From the snippets of recordings we could find it reacted weirdly with Biotics. I still hadn't figured it out completely yet but as long as Mr. Sing and his squad did their job I would get a good idea.

Hopefully whatever they were able to find would be able to be implemented into Shepard. We had gotten the body almost a month ago and the process was slow going but it was working.

The first chapter of Illium. Hope you enjoyed.

Don't forget to Review. I love the feedback I get from y'all, helps me to get better as a writer.