*3 Months later*

Frank has absolutely kicked my proverbial ass. When he said he was going to train me he freaking meant it. Like, holy shit, he's put me through the ringer. Never in my life have I been so thoroughly outclassed in every conceivable way in every training session he put me through. From CQC to shooting he put me through everything he could throw at me. Not to the point of death but there were definitely days where to even move my whole body felt like it was on fire. The first time it happened was after the first day he made me fight a biotic; it was about two weeks into my stay with him.

"Get the fuck up kid," that was all the warning I got before a bucket of ice-cold water was doused all over me. Shooting up and out of bed in only my underwear I looked at him before he tossed some sweats and a sweatshirt. "Three miles."

I didn't whine or argue and just put on the clothes before stretching for a couple of minutes. Once done stretching I did my run in the slums of the Citadel. Mostly to avoid anyone from C-sec seeing me cause like any police department they realized they couldn't watch everything, so they didn't. Anyways, the run wasn't that eventful; just got harassed by a Batarian once. Didn't even bother slowing down this time and just clocked him across the face and kept ongoing. They're assholes.

Getting back to Frank's place he was waiting at the front door with an Asari I had never seen before. Neither said anything but Frank tossed me a nutrition bar and water then turned around and went inside. Following them both we went through his store, into the back and down the stairs to his gym where he had everything. From weights to an Octagon used in MMA fights and that's where we went.

"This is Jino T'Kari. Formerly of the Besiere's Watchers Asari Commandos. She'll be your trainer when you fight people with biotics. Miss T'Kari meet Aedon Wynne," it was the name I went with. Frank knew it was an alias but for all intents and purposes it was my new name.

Jino T'Kari was taller and leaner than most Asari I had met and had the eyes that spoke of experience and death. Not so much different from Tela. Either way, she had a deep blue skin color and white markings where her eyebrows would be and more white markings by her chin. Carried herself as someone who could kick anyone's ass, same as Tela, and she probably could. Commandos were beasts.

"My pleasure Miss," I gave her a small bow of my head. If she was going to be training me then I was going to be polite.

"The same to you," She smiled back at me and then gestured to the ring.

Getting into the ring with her she didn't do a thing. She simply extended her arm and made a 'come at me' motion. I did just and made it about a step before being flung into the fence of the octagon. Groaning, I got back up and she still stood there staring at me with her hand outstretched. Motioning again with her hand I got maybe half a step before becoming weightless and just floating there.

It lasted for about ten seconds before the Lift that she had hit me with dissipated and I fell down to the mat. Pushing everything my body allowed I got back up and charged her as fast as my body would take me.

This time I was actually able to get to her and threw a kick at her. She didn't even move and when it connected it felt like kicking a brick wall. Jolting back from the kick she simply hit me with another throw and sent me into the fence again. It sucked, there was no two ways about it. It hurt.

Getting back up I charged back at her for one step before dodging to the left and barely, by inches, dodged the lift she had thrown at me. At that point, I was within a couple feet and just said screw it. Diving at her to try and tackle her to the ground it actually worked. Mounting her she was smiling up at me and I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face, it felt good to even land a hit. Standing back up I extended my hand and she took it.

"He's smart. I'll give him that," She said over to Frank.

"Told ya," a puff of smoke from the cig he had.

"You got a future kid, but you got a lot to learn about fighting biotics," I said nothing back because I wanted to learn and she smiled at that.

She then proceeded to sit down and talk to me for well over an hour on how to fight biotics. Several main points came up which I thought were only in the games for balance. Like recharging biotics was an actual thing, they couldn't do continuous biotics attacks. It would literally kill them from the stress it would put on their body and brain specifically.

Another main point being that if you have a choice, never ever fight a biotic in an open area one on one. They'll always win. Cover to cover, whittle down their barrier and hit them once it's down. That and baiting them into using their abilities and attacking in between their recharge times is the best way to go.

She did tell me that most biotics, except for the highly trained ones, couldn't create a proper barrier. Meaning that if you got close enough a knife would always be the way to go. Then again she told me if that was going to happen that you needed to be fast and kill them in one or two stabs. If not then you were going to be put in a Stasis and from there you were dead.

Those were the main points she addressed to me and once she was done there she proceeded to kick my ass for another three hours. It sucked. I would be sore for the next three days.

That wasn't the worst day of my training but it was up there. At least Miss T'Kari was nice and taught me as much as she could and still does. She routinely kicks my ass but I am getting better each time we spar. She's been a good teacher too, doing different tactics each session so that I wouldn't get used to anything and always adding more to each session. She was, by far, my favorite teacher.

My next favorite was Volio Molatus, Turian. He was a career mercenary, one of the few Turians who never served in their military; only because he was born and raised on Omega. Anyways, he was my shooting coach and worked with me two times a week, just like Miss T'Kari

He was really easy to talk to and had a wealth of knowledge on damn near anything you could think of. Not to mention that he made learning from him fun. We always incorporated games into training, pitting myself against him. The guy would routinely woop me in all the games but just playing them made it fun. The competitiveness of the games we played forced me to get better every waking moment as my performance in them determined my punishment.

Nothing too crazy, just the usual extra X amount of pushups and X amount of distance to run. The only reason he's my second favorite was that after the first week of him training me he made the competitions a lot harder. Not in any way with the competitions but because of what he would do beforehand. That being he would just destroy my body with as many physically exhausting things that he could think of and then make me do the competitions. It pissed me off at the beginning but it made a lot of sense. Especially when he explained it.

"Kid. In a firefight, you don't get time to take a timeout. No rest, no relaxation; it is act or die. No matter how exhausted or tired you are, you have to learn how to control your heartbeat and how to steady your shot when you can't control it. Those who can't, die."

Yeah, that's how he explained it; real charming. Though, he was right. No two ways about it and so I asked him to make it harder. Not for my ego or to be the best but because I knew with Shepard there were definitely going to be days where we were going to be fighting for hours. Not to mention when the Reaper War breaks out, if I survive that long, who knows where I will be. It could take Shepard weeks, maybe even months to get to me. That or when I'm on Earth before it happens I might get stranded and then fighting for days will be my only option.

My last teacher was Ceelo'Nos, Quarian; he also taught me two days a week. He was probably the oldest Quarian I've ever seen, damn near 80 years old. Still, I hated this guy to his absolute core and had already made plans to kill him if the opportunity presented itself. Notice how I didn't include a 'vas …' in his name either, that's because the guy was exiled. Don't know why and frankly I couldn't care less. He was an absolutely detestable person but by god was he a genius at anything with technology.

Every day with him was a nightmare though. He was racist, sexist, asshole, degenerate and every word in between. This was how he taught me from day one. When I woke up on the first day he was standing over my bed as he had just put a goddamn collar on me. Not a fun one either, a shock collar. From there he made me sit in front of my omni-tool and told me to stop him from hacking it.

Now, let it be said that I was HOT GARBAGE at anything involving tech back in my old life and it was doubly so now. So you can imagine that stopping him from hacking my omni-tool just plain didn't happen at all. With each failed attempt the collar would shock me; it hurt a lot. It went like this for hours until I was finally able to recognize a pattern in his code and what was happening each time he hacked me. Finding the pattern let me stop him and the shock didn't happen. I still remember what he said afterward too.

"Good. You just stopped a program Quarian children could stop in their sleep."

He then proceeded to damn near shock me to death for the next several hours as he continuously hacked my omni-tool. It sucked too cause on the first day I got past that literal one program. He only left when the clock struck 8pm and said that he expected more from me on his way out and left the shock collar on; that pissed me off the most.

As for the second day he set 2 lockers, 2 regular omni-tools and 3 electronic safes in front of me and told me to hack them. What he didn't mention was that for every failed attempt the collar would shock me. There were a lot of failed attempts.

His training was beyond brutal because that was the first 2 days and let me tell you it did not get any easier after that. I was thankful to him though because without that type of brutal training my progress in tech would've been nowhere near where it is now. Still hated the man to his very core but he was a good teacher.

"You're spacing out kid. Eat your food," snapping out of my trance I looked at Frank who sat across from me at the moment. It was the usual gulag he gave me for food, nothing good or special but nutritious and that was the only reason I ate it.

"You got anything for me tomorrow?" I asked as I began to dig in. Tomorrow being Sunday and he usually sends me on his training on Sundays. That being stealth. Follow this guy or girl and gather info without being caught. Blackmail material sometimes, sometimes not.

"I got your first official job tomorrow," I couldn't help but smile. Finally, something to do that wasn't training!

"What you got?"

"A member of the Batarian Hegemony will be staying at one of the hotels near the Presidium for the next couple of weeks. Turns out this guy took the daughter of a very powerful Russian man a couple years ago while she was on Mindoir as a doctor."

"My job to get the girl?" I asked while taking another bite of the food.

"No. There's no info where the girl is. Your job is to kill him, your employer is paying for his head," I couldn't help but smile. My first contract and it's to kill a slaver, couldn't get any better than that.

"Any info on him?"

"He pays for an Asari whore every time he comes to the Citadel. It varies for the girl so you won't be able to do anything there," hmm, that would've made it too easy.

"What else?"

"He'll have a four man squad of SIU operators with him. Normally they aren't the best out there but this squad… well, they're really good kid, I wouldn't recommend anything straight up with any of them. You aren't ready for that. However, they always order Therrice Ice Brandy when they're here so that'll be your way past them. If you can spike it. If not, then just avoid them."

"Do you have the layout of the hotel?"

"No. Not yet. He switches hotels every time but they're always near the Presidium. He gets in tonight so I'll have the layout by tomorrow morning but for now nothing."

"Hmm, anything else?"

Frank shook his head at that and then became silent. That's all I needed to know anyways. The only good slaver was a dead one and I was going to add him to the list of people I killed. Slavers deserve no mercy and he will get none from me. Time to kill him and I was quite looking forward to it.

The next morning I got up at 6 am, got dressed and walked out of my makeshift room to the kitchen. Frank was already there drinking coffee and smoking a cig while reading something on his omni-tool. Seeing me walk towards him he makes a few moves on his omni-tool before swiping and sending some info to mine. The tell-tale ping of a notification telling me he did so.

Looking at it, it was the layout of the hotel that the Batarian would be staying at. Nothing ridiculously high class but high class nonetheless. Above average security but nothing crazy. Thank god for Ceelo cause without that training this would've been impossible for me without being caught by video but now it was possible. Now, it was time to make a plan on how to get close enough to kill him but before that.

Going to the cupboard where he kept his bowls I took one out, grabbed some cereal and poured myself a bowl. Sitting down at the table I greedily ate it, finishing it in record time. Pushing it away from me I thought to myself for a couple of seconds on how to leave my mark on this Batarian, it was my first job here after all. Might as well leave a lasting impression on everyone.

"Do people leave behind calling cards?" He looked up sharply at me when I said that and then he gave me the biggest smile I've seen him have since meeting him. It absolutely lit up the room.

"What were you thinking?"

"Something simple yet unique. I was thinking about a bleeding eye but I don't know if I would be able to burn that onto a wall," he gave me a small chuckle before taking a big swig of his coffee and then set it down to look me dead in the eyes.

"That… would be perfect. However, that was my symbol when I was a merc. Can't have people thinking we're connected beyond those who already know about us. Miss T'Kari, Volio, Telly and Ceelo are the only ones who know about our connection and that has to stay that way. What else have ya got?" It took me another couple of seconds to think of something.

"How about a torch? Not a flashlight but an actual torch. I could burn that onto a wall right?" He looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before nodding.

"Yeah, that'll work. I'll get Ceelo to send you the ability to do that to your omni-tool in a couple hours. For now, follow me. I'll get you set up with your gear for the job."

With that he got up and I followed him. We went back up to his shop where he put in a code to the datapad underneath his table. Once that was done the corner of the right wall hissed open and a door showed itself, same as when he showed it to me the first time. Thinking back on it now he only showed it to me because he saw potential in me and had, probably, already told Tela about me. So even if I tried to take stuff from him she would know who it was.

Once we stepped into the room I stopped moving and admired all the gear there, it was beautiful and would always be. Still, I did not move at all past three steps inside. This was his domain and he would set me up with the best gear for the job. He wouldn't steer me wrong and so I waited for him to get me all the gear.

Not five minutes later he had laid out all the gear on the table that sat in the middle of the room. Looking it over himself he seemed to think for a couple of seconds before grabbing one more thing and then motioned for me to come over. Doing so I positioned myself next to.

"First and foremost your armor. Mantis IV Light Armor; it'll survive a single overload before your shields go and the shields are solid. Not the best but they'll hold for about 6 or 7 seven hits from your average AR. If you end up fighting the SIU guys though, don't take more than 3 shots at a time, after that their gear will break your shields. Once the shields go try not to get hit by their guns, they'll tear into you."

"Why Mantis then?"

"Because you shouldn't be fighting them anyway. Besides, Mantis armor will be the best for you with sneaking around; it's perfect for your body type and how you fight. Plus, easily concealable under normal clothes," Nodding I motion for him to continue.

"Next we got a unique baby right here," He said as he held up what looked like a Locust SMG from Mass Effect 2 and a suppressor. "Only Spectre's got access to this bad girl right now and she's still highly in the prototype stage. The Locust SMG, solid damage with a god tier rate of fire, excellent accuracy and easily concealable. Suppressor capable too," if it's a prototype though there has got to be a problem with it.

"What's its catch?"

"The heating and cooling systems suck. You get about 10 shots before it'll overheat and then it'll be useless for a minute. Thankfully, because of its accuracy, even a newborn could hit all ten shots near dead center."

"And if I have to fight the SIU guys?"

"Don't. This thing is modded with slow moving rounds, it'll make it quieter but damn near worthless in a firefight with shields. Worse comes to worse and you end up having to fight them, hit'em with an overlord or sabotage before engaging. It'll quite literally be your only chance at surviving."

Seeing that there was still a good amount of stuff on the table I didn't speak anymore and let him continue. I did recognize some of the gear from the game but this is real life, game stats won't matter here. Needed all the info on my gear as possible for this to work.

"Next we have the Savant VIII Omni-tool. Best I have available without becoming a target for Spectres. It'll give you a solid shield boost, and it's quick on the recharge for any tech abilities. You'll be untraceable when you hack into the hotel's systems. That being said, once you do that don't take your time. It'll only last for about a 15 minute window before the system will purge it and then they'll know someone's there.

Just in case, here's a makeup kit. Use it how you will," that was arguably the most important thing he gave me depending on how this went. I couldn't help the smirk that formed.

"Second to last, we have a classic. A 6 inch blade. SAS operators still use this type of blade, it's a classic for a reason. Plus, if you get close enough to use this then shields won't matter," they looked exactly like Thatcher's knife from Rainbow Six Siege.

"And finally. A singular flashbang. No one really uses these anymore but it is just as effective as it was when it was invented over 200 years ago. A closely guarded secret of humanity right here kid, only Spectres and N7's have access to these. Only use this if you're still in your 15 minute window and make sure you get it back. People find this and there will be hell to pay. For everyone, including me. I only have 3 others and I'd like to get that one back."

"Pull the pin, toss it at the enemy, get cover and wait for it to blind them?" gotta play the ignorance card here. At least a little bit.

"Yep," popping the 'p' as he said it. "Any more questions?"

"Do you know anything else besides the hotel plans you gave me?"

"Yeah, your target will be on the 16th floor. Room 16C, not a penthouse but on that floor there are 4 rooms. The one directly adjacent to him will have at least 2 of the SIU guys, with the other 2 standing guard outside the target's door. They rented out the whole floor though so you won't have to worry about collateral or anyone getting in the way. The rooms are mostly soundproof too."

"Mostly?"

"Make sure the silencer is on and you'll be fine."

"That all?"

"Yeah. Guys pretty confident he won't be attacked, he's got some C-sec guys on his payroll so their response time will be above average. Especially so since the hotel is near the Presidium. If they get alerted you'll have maybe 5 minutes to get out of there. Any longer and C-sec will be all over the place."

"Got it. Thanks… I'm going to go study the plans," he nodded his head and at that, I grabbed all the gear.

Walking back down the stairs with the gear I took it to my room and set it on my bed. Checking the gear over myself I found nothing wrong with them as expected but you can never be too careful. He might not have meant to give me bad or faulty gear but always check, trust but verify. With that done I opened my omni-tool and threw the plans for the hotel up onto the wall via mini projector and began to study them.

Looking over everything on the layout it wasn't crazy or, well, even unique in any way. This was a rather basic hotel layout. Hell, this looked damn near exact to some Dallas hotels I had jobs in. The only difference being that there was an Element Zero power core at the bottom and the air ducts were slightly larger. Nowhere near big enough for me to fit in but bigger regardless. That would've made things too easy.

Going over the layout it seemed that my biggest obstacle would literally be the most basic one: to get to the target. There weren't many options past spiking the guard's brandy but even then, to get to the bottle would make it hard without being suspicious. I'd definitely be caught on camera doing something unless I can get to the brandy right before they take it to them. Again though, how would I know when they were being brought the bottle… wait. Ah, got it.

These guys are professionals, cocky ones if they have brandy on the job but professionals nonetheless. All I'll have to do is bring the bottle to the pair in the room. From there, I'll have to take them out… but then I'll have to deal with the other two and unless I get super lucky and catch them right before a shift change. Not good enough. There's got to be another option. What about the other buildings?

Looking back at my omni-tool for the buildings around their hotel I did get a little lucky break there. Of the ones around it, it was the smallest and it had roof access. Perfect. Now, the only problem was getting from those buildings to this one. Being with how crowded everything was, the distance between the buildings was, at max, 200 feet with the closest one being 75 feet away. Still, way too far to jump. Cable maybe? Could work but Frank doesn't have any cables, meaning I'd have to buy one and that's traceable. No one shady sells cables.

Frank doesn't have parachutes, gliders or wingsuits either; all 3 I have no training with either so they weren't viable to begin with. Shit, okay well that idea is out… okay. Okay. What else is there? I'm an idiot.

He's in 16C. With a quick look at their booking, 17C was open. There we go. I'm not going to rent it like an idiot. I'm going to go in through the bottom floor where they have their maintenance people. There shouldn't be more than a few people there when I get there around midnight. Okay, looking at the plans for the Hotel and specifically at 17C and 16C there was a good sized hole I'll be able to use to get in between the floors and then I can use another vent to get into 16C. Thank god I made myself a little skinnier, it'll make the crawling a bit easier. Still gonna be a tight fit but better than nothing. All right. I got a plan. Now, it's time to take a nap.

Waking up a couple of hours later I began to finalize my plan. Everything seemed to be in place for now and I had even received the program from Ceelo for my calling card. It was a simple holographic projection, just had to point it at the ground and my image would pop up and stay there until destroyed. Not exactly what I wanted but it was perfect for the situation. It did have the interesting addition of being able to put anything up though, I could quite literally send a message without being there. That gave me a giant smile.

Checking my gear a couple of times along the way of my waiting, everything was in order. Nothing wrong with any of the weapons and my armor's shields were on and working without any problems. Hell, even my lockpick kit had everything and looked in order. In terms of pre-mission checks this one was looking to go off without a hitch.

Now, for my makeup. A few smart applications of the right stuff and I was looking like a different person, can never be too careful in case an errant security cam or person sees my face. It wasn't anything drastic but it was good. Eyeshadow to fill in the small bags under my eyes, contact lenses that turned my brown eyes to light green. Even added some stuff to make my cheeks look a bit fuller and more like my original body. A quick application of some colored hairspray and my hair was now a dirty blonde too. The jewel of the additions was the fake scars. One just above my right eyebrow, a small one on my chin and one on the left side of my neck that I made look like a healed burn. It was perfect in terms of readiness for the mission. Now, it was 9 o'clock and time to actually commit to the job.

Walking out of my room with all my gear on hand underneath some regular clothes I saw Frank sitting there with Miss T'Kari at the kitchen table. He was smoking as usual and she was holding a cup of what I assumed to be tea in her hands quietly chatting with each other. Seeing me in my new look they stopped chatting and then exchanged glances before Miss T'Kari chuckled. She then handed Frank a credit chit.

"Color me surprised," she said as she smiled at me and took a sip of her tea.

"Remind me that Volio owes me money too and both of you owe Ceelo," he cracked a smile at her and she sighed again. "Happy hunting kid."

Nodding my head to them I left in silence and began my walk to the hotel. It was about an hour's walk away so I took my time taking the back streets avoiding any area that I knew had a camera. High traffic areas, in general, were avoided too but getting closer and closer to the hotel it got harder and harder to do so. Still, it was done.

Made what would regularly be an hour long walk into a three hour journey. Still, to avoid as many traffic areas as possible it was the right choice and I was right on time. The entrance to the underground part of the hotel was right in front of me.

Walking up to it I expected the door to open automatically but didn't. Looking to the left side there was a terminal asking for identification. About 15 seconds later it was hacked and the door opened. Not only that but with the door opening my timer had just started. Their system was now on a 15 minute loop. Starting the timer on my omni-tool I walked through the door and from the layout I memorized made my way to the elevator.

Keeping my head lowered the whole time making myself look preoccupied with my omni-tool, the few workers that were there didn't bother me. Most looked either preoccupied with minor tasks, some looked high and there was a decent margin that were both. Gotta, love underpaid workers who don't give a shit. Only one of them even bothered looking at me the whole time; a light green Salarian with blue facial markings. Even still it was just a passing glance and the only thing he was able to see was one of my eyes and fake burn scar on my neck

No one even batted an eye when I got into the elevator and hacked its controls to send me up to the 17th floor. Just like in the games though the elevator was agonizingly slow, it took three full minutes to get up to the floor. 11 minutes left, I'm gonna have to increase my speed if I don't want to get caught.

Not bothering with being subtle and using my lockpick set on the door and instead taking the screwdriver from the kit and ramming it through the door lock. It sparked twice before it clicked open. Going inside and wasting no time I got to the vent right away. It was in the guest bedroom of the pseudo hotel room, more like a condo but anyways; in the far corner of the room. Just like the floor plans had said it was just big enough for me to use it, guess they needed it big enough for people to do maintenance. 9 minutes left

Taking my time so as to not make noise I opened the vent and made my way into the dusty expanse that was the space between floors. It wasn't too bad to be honest but a little claustrophobic. Getting to the adjoining vent that looked into the room below the Batarian that was my target was walking around the Asari who was strapped down to the bed with a blindfold on. Always on a power trip these Batarians, pathetic creatures. Not bothering to even delay the execution I took out my smg, put the silencer on and aimed it at the Batarian through the vents.

*FFFT*

One shot was all it took to the top of the Batarians head and he collapsed in a heap. Checking the timer on my omni-tool I still had 8 and a half minutes left. Smiling to myself I popped off the vent cover and dropped down with a small thud.

"Sarak?" the Asari whore voiced with a small waiver in her voice. Even with the blindfold on she was beautiful. It was a shame.

"No." was all I said before pointing the gun at her head and firing.

*FFFT*

Her head snapped back and blood, brain matter and bits of her skull painted the wall. Avoiding the blood pooling on the floor so as to not leave a shoe print I grabbed the Batarians body and hoisted him onto the bed next to the dead Asari. Typing into my omni-tool into the program Ceelo had given me I finished in seconds and shot it towards the wall above their bodies. It was a short sentence with the picture of a torch below it and I couldn't help but smile.

"Slavers deserve no mercy and neither do their whores."

With that done I grabbed the Batarians omni-tool that was on the dresser next to the bed and took a picture of the scene. Then to put the cherry on top I posted it to the extranet.

Stepping on the dresser I jumped to the vent with the cover in hand and grabbed the ledge with one hand. It was a lot harder getting in than getting out but it was managed eventually, with the vent cover being held by my feet. It was awkward to squeeze back around to make sure it was secured to the vent but it was done.

Squeezing back around I made my way back to 17C and through the vent. Getting into the room I checked my timer and I had 4 minutes and 15 seconds left. A little pep in my step I walked with a sense of urgency to the elevator before getting in. Hitting the button for the bottom floor it took another 3 minutes for it to take me all the way to the bottom. Then just under a minute to get out.

I got out of the underground entrance with exactly 5 seconds to spare from the program ending. Sighing in relief I made my way back to Frank's using the same path as before; it took another 3 hours. Better safe than sorry but it still sucked. Getting back at almost 4 in the morning I simply flopped onto my bed.

Waking up I immediately checked the clock and noticed that it was 10am. Frank let me sleep in today, guess that means no training. Getting out of bed I put on a pair of sweats and walked out of my room to be greeted by Frank, Volio, Ceelo and Miss T'Kari sitting at the kitchen table.

"About damn time you woke up," Volio spoke with what was the equivalent of a smirk, for Turians, on his face.

"Sup." That's about all I could manage at the moment as I went to the drawer by the coffee machine and opened it up revealing my dip can. Popping one in, I woke up pretty quickly.

"Any fallout?" I asked, grabbing the extra chair and putting myself between Frank and Volio.

"Oh yeah." Volio voiced again, his smirk growing.

"The message was a bit much kid," Frank stated but he had a ghost of a smile on his face; as did everyone else at the table. "But very appreciated by the galaxy and our employer."

He pulled up a news article on the killing which, apparently, was massive. Every newspaper or any place with news in the entire galaxy was covering the killing. All of them, except for the Batarian ones, were clapping in approval of the move. It was enlightening how much power a single kill could have. There was even mention that the Batarian ambassador had demanded a meeting with the Council already.

"Cheers to you kid," Miss T'Kari was holding up her mug of tea smiling at me.

"Couldn't have done it without y'all," I said smiling at all of them. Even Ceelo.

"They have a nickname for you," Ceelo said in his matter-of-fact tone. The reverberations his mask caused, adding a little mystique to the question he put in my mind.

"What is it?"

"The Torchbearer." that's a fucking awesome name.

*6 months later*

It's been 9 months since I got here and it's been rather eventful. I've gone on only 4 more jobs in the 6 months since the first one and each one has increased the legend of the Torchbearer. The Batarians had a rather massive bounty on my head but I don't give a shit. Fuck'em, slaving pieces of shit. I'd kill'em all if I could.

Each job since then had increased my notoriety and not exactly in a good way. The first was when I killed some Asari business tycoon from Illium. She was corrupt as shit and there was evidence that she had been selling people into slavery for extra profit. Still, it couldn't be proven absolutely so it definitely got me some heat from the Asari side of things but the news had my back surprisingly. They showed her connections to slavers and people were backing me within seconds. Al-Jilani, the one you can punch in the games, was actually my biggest supporter for this case which was surprising.

Miss T'Kari was furious at me for a solid 3 weeks afterward because apparently the woman was her cousin. She calmed down after the evidence came out but she was still royally PISSED. I placated her by using Frank to get her favorite tea smuggled in, it was mixed with some rather illegal substances and expensive. Cost me my whole paycheck, 150k, to get it smuggled in.

Next was not a wetwork job and a bit of a charity case all things considered. Ceelo asked me to get a group of Quarians on their pilgrimage out of the Citadel. They had apparently stolen some high-class ship upgrade schematics from some business on the Citadel and were being hunted by mercs on the station. Ceelo's grandniece was among them.

It would result in my first firefight here. It wasn't fun but with all the tech training Ceelo had given me and a group of Quarians backing me it wasn't terrible. They took out the shields of the mercs and the Tsunami V rifle Frank gave me did the rest. That being said, it was also where I got my first major injury.

Sniper shot me in my lower abdomen. Hurt like a bitch but I got lucky as it was a through and through and hit nothing. Still, I completed the mission and gained some allies within the Quarian ranks. They knew who had helped them but I never showed them my face. A basic helmet and shawl had covered my face for the mission. I did give them my insignia code to give to their admirals with a message saying that they had a friend in me if they ever needed me for work.

The following job was just a delivery mission. Take a package from one side of the Citadel to the Asari councillor. Never got to meet Tevos if that's what you're thinking, I was literally a package delivery boy. It was a simple job and something that was needed after the first 3 being pretty high profile. The Quarian job left a good amount of bodies laying around and put me on bed rest for a couple days. It didn't hurt at the time but that shot through the abdomen was debilitating for training.

The final one I did was for Udina actually. Not directly, of course, but it was to steal some documents from a Turian smuggler. Simple and quick with delivery to the human embassy. I didn't deliver it and sent a regular courier to give them to him. I didn't even know what was on the documents but I didn't care. It was probably some blackmail anyway so who cares.

There, all caught up on what's happened since the first job. Torchbearer had been silent for a couple months and that's how I liked it for now. Couldn't make too much noise, the heat would get far too high for anyone to be able to do anything. I still had to think of my teachers and Frank.

Bringing them up, Volio, Ceelo and Miss T'Kari had absolutely beaten me into the dirt with their training. It had only gotten progressively harder but that was how it was. It had to be done, with the looming war I had to be prepared. To be the best, or at least close, was the only option.

Looking around my room right now it was early morning on Sunday and I held a Rosary in my hand. I had found it at an antique shop about a month ago and it hadn't left my side. Even during missions and training it was always on me. Though, only ever around my neck when I wasn't training or on missions, otherwise it was in my pocket.

Sighing, and finishing up my prayers I walked out of my room to see Frank and Miss T'Kari sitting at the kitchen table as usual; by the way they were fucking. Loud too, had to invest in some noise dampening earbuds to sleep. It was annoying but there was nothing to be done about it.

"Morning," was my simple greeting as I made myself some cereal.

"Ya got a day off kid," Frank spoke as he sipped his coffee.

"Oh, thank god," that got them both the chuckle.

"What are you planning to do?" Miss T'Kari asked as she took the unlit cigarette away from Frank as he put it in his mouth. She had been forcing him to quit. He now had his packs stashed everywhere but she was slowly finding them and throwing them out.

"I don't know y-" there was a ping on my omni-tool. It was a message with a time and place. Nothing else. Well, that can't be good. "Looks like I got a meeting actually."

"You know from who?" Frank asked, concern seeping into his voice. He looked after me and cared for me, it was nice to have a father figure here. I missed my true one.

"No."

"You want a tail?" I thought it over for a couple of seconds but shook my head.

"No. I know the place. It's the cafe near the Presidium, very public and no one knows that I'm the Torchbearer besides you lot."

"Be careful kid," his concern meant a lot.

"I will be."

With that we ate in silence and when I was finished I went back to my room before changing into some regular clothes and went on my way to the cafe. It was a slow time in the morning for the cafe on a Sunday but it didn't really matter. Being there early allowed me to scout out the place from afar for anyone suspicious.

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary after 2 hours I headed in. Sitting near the edge of the balcony in the cafe by the atm machine it would make for a quick exit if anything happened. The drop over the ledge was only 15 feet, a good distance but survivable and there were plenty of places to disappear to below.

I sat there for 20 minutes with no one showing up and was about to leave thinking the whole thing was a ruse at best and trap at worst. That was when the atm beeped. Looking at it in confusion and paying it no heed as it was just a random machine. It then beeped again and this time the message was clear; they'd talk through it.

Standing up to walk the three feet to it my omni-tool activated to access the atm and when it did my omni-tool beeped as if it got a message. It didn't, it picked up a being.

We are Geth. We wish to talk

That was the only thing that went across my omni-tools screen.

"Fuck me."

Not possible.

*sigh*

Chapter 2 for y'all.

Hope you enjoyed and seriously, I encourage reviewing. Lets me know how I'm doing and if there is any way to improve.

DD signing off. See ya soon.