Clang, clang, clang. Pause. Clang, clang, clang. Another pause.

I listened to the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. Their steady rhythm and direction gave me a pretty accurate idea of where the guard was patrolling. I followed the steps with the barrel of my gun for a few more rounds to make sure I'd get him with the shot.

A quiet gunshot faintly echoed as I pulled the trigger of my muffled rifle. There came a heavy metallic thump from the other side of the door and looking through the hole my gun had just made I could confirm that the hit was perfect.

He didn't have a chance to so much as whisper before his demise.

I moved aside from in front of the door as the rest of our team entered the sterile white room as quietly as they could. After the last one had gone I followed them, keeping my eyes watchful for anything that might surprise us from the behind. I heard another muffled shot and something sizeable hit the floor from further on up.

That should take care of the second guard, next stop, the laboratory. The glass windows between the lab and the room we were in revealed our assault to the scientists within who were clearly starting to panic. As we moved in my friends started to subdue the secondary targets, but all of my attention was drawn to the object at the center of the laboratory. Time seemed to freeze as I stared at it, maybe seconds passed, maybe minutes? Couldn't tell. I was so fascinated by it that I failed to notice anything happening behind us before I heard a loud metal on metal screeching. I looked behind in a nearly stunned daze and saw just as last of the security shutters closed violently over the doors of the previous room.

Clang, clang, clang of footsteps came from above us.

Clang, clang...

Estimated 7 Hours Later, Unknown Location In Space

Thomas Fulton

CLANG!

The noise arose me from my slumber and after a quick gathering of my scattered thoughts I realized that we must have finally docked with something. I had not even noticed we were getting close to anything but it might be that Jess or the pilot said something and I failed to register it in the midst of my half sleep.

Shouldn't let my mind wander like that in a uncertain environment. Poor form.

Jess's clear voice addressed me: "We're here. Come on Tom, let's go and sort this business out." She had a small smile on her face as she offered a hand to help me up from my seat. I took it and as I arose a thudding pain came all over my body, making me wince slightly. Jess gave a brief concerned look at me but when I shook my head to indicate that I was fine she begun to lead me out of the shuttle and into the station.

All the small stabs, scrapes and bruises were starting to add up. Nothing I couldn't handle of course, but still it wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

The docking bay we stepped into was pristine. Too pristine in my opinion. White walls decorated with orange accents and polished metallic floor gave more of an impression of a hospital than a shuttle bay. A few people in what I assumed to be a Cerberus uniform were moving around doing all sorts of miscellanious errands. On the far side of the quite sizeable bay there was one large door with a heavily armed individual standing guard over it. Jess was leading me straight towards him.

He held up his free hand towards us as we reached him. "Halt, you have to be scanned before I can permit you entry into the facility." His dark voice was masked with some kind of modulator inside his helmet, making it sound robotic and maybe to a less conditioned man, rather intimidating.

"Naturally, please go on ahead." Jess said cheerfully and took a relaxed standing position with her hands at her sides, nodding at me to do the same. I complied, taking a similar position as her and waited impatiently for the guard to finish his scanning.

"You're clear Eline, but you, Mr. Fulton you keep yourself in check here or we will not hesitate to put you down." The guard commented, making a threatening gesture with his hand as he mentioned me

"I promise you Tom will cause no trouble, he's an old friend and besides the Illusive Man wants to see him so..." Jess reasoned to the suspicious guard who just huffed in response and opened the door for us.

In my younger years I would not have taken any shit from a guy like him, but I guess age has mellowed me. Also the fact that I have larger issues right now might've been a factor in not starting a confrontation with him.

The lobby area which we entered was styled similarly to the hangar, with one notable difference being a sterile smell that reminded me of a dentists office. And not in a good way. Again there were a few people going about their business all over but one managed to catch my attention. A tall and almost regal woman who was dressed in a tight fitting Cerberus suit. She noticed us too and begun to approach us. I could tell from the way she looked and carried herself, that this woman was dangerous. Like a fox among the chickens. My shoulders tensed unconsciously as my body readied itself for action in case it would be needed.

As she reached us, her greeting came accompanied with a tight smile: "Greetings Specialist Eline and Mr. Fulton, I am Miranda Lawson. Eline I will take Mr. Fulton from hereon out to speak with the Illusive Man to reach an agreement of how he well repay us for our aid in his escape. You have a debriefing in meeting room E that you are required to attend, Specialist." Her voice was suprisingly soft and had a small accent to it, though it was still clear that she was used to having her orders listened to.

Eline just gave her a small salute and whispered a good luck to me before walking towards one of the doors further in the facility. The woman, Miranda Lawson as I now knew to identify her, started off towards another with a walk that said that she expected people to follow her without command. I, having no better thing to do obliged.

Clearly an officer.

"So, you are some kind of boss in this facility then Miss Lawson?" I asked her hoping to probe some information before hopping in to the proverbial lions den. Her tightlipped smile returned once more to her face as she answered: "Your observation skills speak well of you Mr. Fulton. Many would have assumed me a secretary or equivalent for my relatively young age and looks. But yes indeed I am trusted with being the head of research in this facility." So she had indeed noticed me assessing her. I had learned long ago to not judge people by their looks, but the presence that they carried.

"And what kind of research would that be then?"

"That is classified Mr. Fulton. I am sure as a former Black Ops operative you understand operational security." She replied with a more natural smile. I grunted amused at her remark.

It seemed that they knew a lot more about me than I would have liked, but it was to be expected from a secretive information handling and hoarding organization. Maybe they could be of help in finding the people I was looking for afterall...

Rest of the walk through some identical looking corridors went by in silence as I followed her lead to a small conference room marked with a letter A on the door. There was a circle made of some kind of ally in the middle of the room that had tables and chairs surrounding it.

Some kind of hologram communications unit then?

Lawson extended her hand at the metallic circle: "Please step into the ring and you will be granted an audience with the Illusive Man, I will be waiting for you outside the room when you are done."

I took a small breath before walking into the circle, readying myself to talk with an undoubtedly ruthless, smart and cunning man. One had to be in order to create an organization like this.

"Here goes nothing..."

A Little Later, Canteen On The Station

Specialist Jess Eline

She nursed a mug of steaming coffee in her hands at one of the corner tables in the canteen, deep in thought. The debriefing was a mess, she was supposed to do some simple wire tapping and hacking around a few sites on the citadel, but instead she had bumped into old acquintance in Tom during her night off and then afterwards she had helped him to escape C-sec jail! Just like that. She hadn't even asked if he actually did those things that they accused him of. She wasn't sure she wanted to know though, she was fairly certain of the answer already. After all she had served under him for years and liked to think that she knew the kind of man he was quite well. Of course there had been about a half a decade since they last saw each other, but he seemed so similar as before. Of course he looked older and quite a bit more tired, his gruffness had gotten, if possible, even worse, but he was still the Major that she knew. Or so she liked to think atleast.

She hated to admit it to herself but Jess knew that she was incredibly biased in this matter. Ever since she first started to serve in his unit she was infatuated with him. He had been, and still was, so handsome and stoic and confident and heroic and...

Jess stopped that train of thought before she got completely lost in her fantasies.

The plate of food in front of her had become cold during her musings but she didn't dare go and dispose of it. The mess sergeant here was a real hardass about anyone 'wasting' his products so instead Jess diligently started shoveling the cold food in her mouth. The monotonous movement of the fork and her teeth processing the tasteless nourishment made her drift off into thought again.

She hadn't really gotten a good feel of what Tom thought about Cerberus and her involvement with them during the shuttle ride.

That made her anxious.

He had agreed to come and talk to them without much persuasion but that might just be because of a feeling of obligation towards her or Cerberus for helping him escape. She wanted to think it was mostly for her, but Cerberus did have a reputation with people who did not repay them...

What if he thought her an idiot or some kind of monster for working with them? No, he couldn't. They did similar things as Cerberus whilst in the Alliance, why would he care?Though something did seem to have changed in him since they last met... He was... Less angry and more... Sad?

Her omni-tool pinged loudly, breaking her from her thoughts once again. It was a message from her supervisor, requesting a official report on the incident with C-Sec and the mission on the citadel ASAP. She really wasn't in the mood to be writing detailed reports right now but it had to be done as always. Else she would get even more ass chewing from the captain.

Jess gathered her things on the food tray and stood up. As she was taking her tray to the dishline her attention was drawn to two people talking just outside the canteen entrance. Tom... And another person she recognized, Kai Leng. He made her shudder.

"Well that's odd, does he know Leng from the Alliance? Or maybe he has accepted to work with us and they are discussing a mission..."

After depositing her dishes to the line, Jess slowly walked towards the conversing men, not intending to interrupt but to be able to speak to Tom after they were done... And maybe to eavesdrop a bit if she was completely honest with herself. As she drew near, few bits and pieces from the end of the conversation could be heard: "...well it was good to meet you Major, I must be going now but we shall see each other soon enough." Kai Leng said with a creepy grin as he took his leave, Tom only grunted in response. He atleast conversed as smoothly as ever, Jess thought with a smile.

He didn't seem to notice her standing there, seemingly deep in thought for a moment. She cleared her throat gently and smiled again a little as he seemed to jump slightly, but regained composure quickly.

"Hey Tom, well that was fast with the meeting. I thought it'd take all day. How did it go?" She asked with a hopeful note in her voice.

"Please, please, please say that you'll stay..."

Tom looked at her with a unreadable expression for a while. It made her heart race but she steeled herself and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Well, I suppose. It does seems that we are colleagues once again Jess... At least for now." He had small smile on his rough face that did not quite reach all the way to his eyes as he spoke. Jess did take note of it but her excitement about them working together again overshadowed anything she might have thought about it as she jumped and hugged him. He tensed slightly again, maybe not expecting her to express joy so explosively. Maybe it was inappropriate in the canteen doorway, but she was was too ecstatic to care.

"That's wonderful! It'll be just like old times, doing exciting missions as a tight knit team and succeeding against the odds as bullets go whizzing around us!" Her smile reached from ear to ear as she finally released him.

"Just like old times..." Tom mouthed quietly in reply.

A Few Weeks Later, Unknown Planet In The Terminus Systems

Thomas Fulton

The rain on this godforsaken planet was harsh. We had been here for a few days now and every single goddamn piece of clothing I had was soaked through and the city streets were practically fast flowing rivers. At least my guns hadn't malfunctioned. Yet.

I was sitting on a rooftop with a sniper rifle, overlooking a compound where the missions target that we were hunting supposedly resided. Some Cerberus defector or something like that. I honestly couldn't give a flying fuck who it was, I just wanted for this mission to be over, get dry and be one step closer to repaying my debt to Cerberus. Maybe they'd let me go my way peacefully after that, it'd be the best case scenario. If not, well... I had some plans for that too.

Couldn't be too careful working for a organization like Cerberus.

Part of what made me suspicious was that the deal I made with the Illusive Man was a surprisingly good one for me.

The Illusive Man, name fits, the man was like an eel when he spoke. Gave nothing without pulling and took everything you gave in a conversation. The deal that I agreed to was such that I would work for them, utilizing my specialized skills in black ops for a few years and in return they'd help me find the people I was looking for and give me support in chasing them down when they were found. Afterwards we would be even stevens and go our separate merry ways.

Well that was the dream anyways.

A voice in the comms interrupted me: "I'm nearly at the entry point, shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. You set up and ready there?"

Kai Leng. A former Alliance soldier same as me, difference being that this asshole was completely off his rocker.

I am only slightly off mine.

Leng was brutal and sadistic man who I did not respect much, well any really, but unfortunately I found myself working with him quite often due to our similar skill sets which complemented each other.

"I'm ready, I'd worry about yourself. Give the mark when you're ready to go, until then radio silence." I replied to him in a maybe a little too hostile tone, but I wasn't out to make friends with him, I only had to work with him. There was no reply from his end so he at least understood that unnecessary chatter was not optimal on a mission. We did not want anyone to pick up on our frequency and come after us until the mission was done and we were gone.

I placed the sniper at the spot I earlier identified as having the best vision of the area, checked my secondary firearms and lay down in position.

It really was a good spot, I had good vision on nearly all outside areas of the compound and a good bit of the inside through the windows. I fiddled with the settings on the scope until I found it satisfactory, and then dug out a ration bar from my armor's attached pocket. Whilst eating I idly tried to find Leng with the scope. It was a good warmup for the action.

After a while I spotted him skulking in the shadows towards the agreed entry point. For a moment I humored the idea of shooting the bastard right there and doing the world a big favor, but I wouldn't get anything out of that but trouble. And I still have some things to do before I can go completely crazy vigilante.

After a little less than ten minutes of following Leng's progress and periodically scanning the compound for any changes in guard patrols, his voice in the comm told me that he was in position and we were ready. I confirmed and gave him the go ahead to storm the area. So far it was going according to plan but I was certain that wouldn't last too long.

Something about that age old saying of plans and contact with enemy.

Leng breached inside the building through a side entrance and I heard some gunshots from the inside. I sighted on the surprised guards outside to prevent them from surrounding him. Aiming at the most competent looking I pressed the trigger and the recoil pushed against my shoulder like an old friends greeting. Less than a second later the guard fell to the ground, a hole clean through his neck armor. The other mercs ducked and took cover all over the place, trying to identify where the shot came from. I easily picked off a few of them that misjudged my position and kept the others pinned for some time until Leng came back on comms: "There's a guy holding out on the second floor third window! Can't get past!"

I quickly readjusted my aim and saw a turian guard shooting an assault rifle towards Leng's position from behind some heavy cover. Unfortunately for him I had a straight shot to his unprotected head through a window.

His head snapped violently sideways painting the industrial wall behind him with the color of blood.

"Haha, serves that rat bastard right! Nice shot Fulton." Leng said to me as I saw him advance through the room, giving a couple of extra shots at the body. I didn't deign him with an answer, instead I refocused my attention on the outside guards.

The mindless slaughter came to me like second nature, as guard after another fell when they poked their bodies out of their covers to take a peek or try to make dash. These low grade mercs didn't even stand a chance, their positioning was a mess and teamwork non existent. Even their aim was worse than the average Terminus merc I had run into. Seems like this defector didn't have too much resources to hire competent protection.

Well, that'd cost him dear soon enough.

"Fulton I'm near the saferoom door, keep them a little longer off my back and..." Suddenly a loud explosion came through the comm and I heard Leng cursing profusely im the midst of coughing.

"What is going on in there Leng!?"

"A fucking krogan... Fuck!" By the sound of it Leng was running and shooting as he replied to me, trying to avoid a charge from an angry krogan no doubt. I aimed at some of the windows close to where I supposed he was but couldn't see anything.

"Move the bastard to a window and I'll take him down!" I yelled at Leng, setting the power of the large rifle to maximum.

"Fucking easier said than done Fulton... OH FUCK!" There was a massive crash and cry of pain from Leng and soon I saw a krogan dangling him from the neck charge past a nearby window, slamming Lang to a wall and choking him. Only gasps of air came from the comms as I leveled my shot. Lang was starting to look in quite rough shape when I pressed the trigger. The projectile caught the krogan straight in the spinal area, creating a huge steaming hole where his lungs and hearts used to be. The large reptile swayed for a few short seconds on his feet, still holding Leng until his grasp finally loosened, and then fell like a huge sack of rocks.

I heard my 'friend' coughing through the comm as I checked the rifle. The assembly had cracked from the force of the maximum powered shot and would probably explode on me if I used it again. Piece of trash Cerberus issue gear goddamn.

"Get to the target now, my rifle's out of commission so I'll get the bike and come to the exit point! Move!" I didn't wait to see if Leng did what I told him and ran to the bike we had been using to move around the city. I pulled the tarp off from top of it and started it on. The engine whined angrily as the thrusters pushed gathered water around the rooftop. I didn't wait around for it to get warmed up, and sped off towards the distant building.

Some time later.

It took me a couple of minutes to reach the compounds far side where we had agreed to meet after the target was taken down. I left the bike on as I jumped off and took a carnifex from my waist holder. The back courtyard seemed to be clear but I kept scanning it nevertheless. Couldn't hurt. After a minute or so of doing that, I started to get impatient.

That reckless idiot Leng should have been done and here by now.

I still heard gunshots so he atleast was still alive. Just as I was about to call him on the comms, a top floor window shattered as a blood covered Kai Leng jumped out followed by a stream of bullets. I gave covering fire towards the windows as he landed and ran towards the bike. "What the fuck took you so long, let's fucking go!" I yelled at him as I too started to run towards the bike.

"Sorry, had to have a little fun with the traitor." Kai gave a evil smirk as he explained. I just hopped on and pressed on the accelerator with a grunt and sped us away from the compound, taking twisting turns and alleyways to make following impossible.

Some time later.

When we were certain no possible tail could have followed us, we stopped in a remote alley. Leng still had a manic grin on his face as he jumped off. I followed suit.

"Hahaha, that went well. Thanks for the save with the krogan by the way, that could've ended real badly." Leng offered me his hand in apparent appreciation. I didn't take it, instead I begun to plant the explosives on the bike.

Leave no evidence was beaten into my mind more times than I can count during my Alliance days.

Leng gave short 'hmm' sound behind me before addressing me again: "I like you Fulton. You're ruthless, efficient and skilled. Almost like me. Though you're real pain to talk to."

"Don't compare us Leng." I said to him through gritted teeth. Who the fuck was this insane asshat to compare me to him? It took all my willpower not to smack the man.

"Eh, whatever you want. But you know I'm right." That grin again. "I'm gonna scatter now as planned, you blow up the bike and do the same. See you around Fulton." He gave me a wink before rapidly leaving the alleyway.

I pondered on Leng's words as I finished planting the explosive, was I really like him? Did people think me a equally sadistic and murderous maniac? I only kill because I have to. To get revenge. I don't enjoy the killing, I think...

I continued to ponder further on the matter as I left the alleyway. Not long after an explosion reduced the bike to dust.

Now to get off this planet...

Writer's Note:

Thank you very much to all who still keep reading this thing!