A/N: As you may have noticed, the Liara in this fic is a lot more like the first ME Liara. That is because during the two years Shepard was dead she had real friends and didn't turn as "evil" as in the ME2 game.

Nate was observing the Dantius towers. Nassana Dantius was about to go down. Some rich dude had wanted it, they did it. But Nate was slightly worried: Thane had said that this was his last mission. Alone… That was one sad thought.

The sun was beginning to set, nighttime starting. The two moons were also showing up. Nate opened up his omni-tool. Nothing too fancy, Citrys V.

Nate let out a quiet whistle.

"Oo, an Angry Varrens update!" he whispered happily.

"Nate, do you copy? I'm inside," came an incoming call.

"Coming." he replied. The assassin pulled out a grappling hook and aimed it carefully at one of the towers, a bit above his desired landing spot.

Nate pulled the trigger and was flinged towards the skyscraper at an extreme speed. The building was nearing quickly. A biotic impulse later he was slowed down enough to select the exact moment to release the hook. He flew for a few tense seconds trough the air, few thousand meters above ground and landed exactly in a window. An unfortunate merc was there and got taken down.

"I'm inside," Nate informed Thane.

"Good. Head upwards. Also, it looks like someone else is trying to get to the target, some turian, an N7 human and a salarian. Advise caution," the drell advised (duh!)

Nate drew his Mantis and scoped in. Two Blue Suns were in sight, engaged in a conversation: "What's up with all the shooting downstairs?"

"The guys down there must be getting the salarians out."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"By the way, I still think that quarians are the hottest," one started talking again.

"What? Are you crazy? Asari are the best. I mean, who would want a buckethead?"

"Uhh… they're so mysterious and sexy. Asari are such sluts."

"Hey! Take that back!"

Nate smirked at them getting in a fight. More distracted, easier targets. He aimed towards the quarian fanatic and shot him clean trough the head. The other one was clearly surprised and was ripe for picking. With a noscope.

Thane wouldn't approve. He was of the "Quiet, clean, certain" type. Nate moved on, over the bodies, towards the elevator.

He was just stepping into the elevator when he heard the intruders: the human, the turian and the salarian. They had found the two bodies and were trying to guess the cause of death. The bullet holes were found quickly, but the shooter was still missing. Nate quickly applied the invisibility cloak.

"Could be our guy. He's known to have good sniper skills. Keep your eyes open," the human instructed.

"Uh, Shepard. You DO know that you have a teammate with the best sniping skills in the galaxy, right? Why are we even recruiting him?" the turian joked.

Shepard replied: "Because one badass sniper isn't enough for me."

"Based on the dossier, Krios not a famous sniper. Known for his close range fighting style; quick, painless, but brutal," the fast-talking salarian stopped their banter.

The three of them moved over the bodies, towards the elevator. Nate had not called it, as the sounds would certainly have alerted them to his presence.

Shepard called the elevator. Thankfully it was on the same floor as them, so the doors opened quickly.

As the trio entered, Nate slipped in and hid in a corner. That's when he noticed his cloak was running out. Even worse, the turian seemed to be heading right into the corner he was in.

Tense moments passed. Nate knew he was going to be caught. At least the trio seemed friendly.

The moment the cloak wore off he formed a biotic barrier. It was weak, as he had not concentrated much.

"Mercenary assassin, behind you!" Shepard shouted to the turian. Nate was slowly weakening. He knew that if they shot at the same time, he would go down.

"Calm down! I'm no merc," he tried to save himself from death.

"Then who are you?" the human asked cautiously.

Nate decided to tell the truth, at least then he'd have a chance of survival. The trio seemed to be after the Eclipse guarding the place: "Nate Halls, assassin. Now what do you want?"

"Nate Halls? The apprentice of Thane Krios?" the turian asked.

"Precisely. Now it's your turn to shed some light on what's going on."

"We're here to find your mentor. We need to-"

"Recruit him, right? I heard. I meant who you guys are?"

"I'm commander Jane Shepard of the SSV Normandy, former Spectre, and these are doctor Mordin Solus and former C-Sec, now vigilante Garrus Vakarian," Shepard introduced the trio to Nate.

"Vigilante? I like the sound of that," Garrus quietly commented.

"I'm here to kill Nassana Dantius," Nate told about his plans.

"Any way you can tell your buddy Krios not to shoot us to pieces when we get out of this elevator?" Garrus wanted help.

"Sure!"

-

"So, with Shepard&Co I moved over the bridge and confronted Nassana. Apparently Shepard was familiar with her already. Thane swooped in, killed Dantius and… left with her. I decided to stay here as you see," Nate finished explaining to Liara. He had gone to her apartment because that was the only place for him to go after Thane left. Thane himself had switched places a lot, so the pair stayed mainly at hotels.

"So uh, could I stay here for a while?" Nate popped the question.

"Of course!" Liara agreed, "I've always had that couch on the first floor just sitting there. Glad someone could use it. Especially someone as charming as you," she added.

Nate didn't have anything against Liara, but a relationship in his profession wouldn't end well.

Nate sat down on the aforementioned couch. He really enjoyed the view from Liara's place. The asari also sat down, next to him.

"So, have I told you the story about me serving on the Systems Alliance flagship under commander Shepard?" Liara asked. She was in a great mood.

"Only about a million times. But it couldn't hurt hearing it again now that Thane is with her."

"Are you planning on going with him?" Liara asked a bit sadly.

"As long as you're not coming, no. But if there's really going to be a war against those reaper thingys, count me in!"

"Thank you! It really means a lot to me!"

"No problem. Now, about Shepard,"

"So, two years ago I was investigating protheans on a hot fiery lava planet called Therum…"