Guess who's back! It is I, Mac Gustah! Don't worry, people, after a long time, I am finally done with my finals, so I can start writing again. Honestly, I had a chapter about half done before I got drowned in schoolwork, but it was complete and utter shit, so I deleted it and started again.

Someone told me the combat felt rushed, something to which I agree. therefore I am posting this chapter again, with the hopes of having somewhat fixed the problem.

I hope you like it, my dear readers!


~Chapter 3~

Damn this thing was fast. I mean, I've ridden some pretty fast bikes, but this thing really blew them all away. The fact that it was hovering about half a meter off the ground probably helped with that.

I looked at the waypoint displayed on my HUD. Only five clicks out. I decided to read up on the file about the Shepard family Threes had just sent me, realising something that I hadn't thought of yet.

"Hey, Threes, I see a flaw in our boss' plan…" I spoke into the direct channel to my AI companion.

"What might that be, reclaimer? It seems, how do your people say it? Water evidence?" The monitor answered, a slight tone of curiosity in its voice.

"It's water proof, and, well… I'm not very good at talking to people, and from the report you just sent me, Mrs. And Mr. Shepard are both former Alliance military. Quite high ranked, even. The chance that they believe me is a lot smaller than the chance that they'll shoot me in the face. You gotta agree I do not look very friendly." I thought back at the hologram showing me in my intimidating dark-grey camouflaged armour.

"Do not fret, reclaimer, I have run 38,785 simulations of your encounter. The chance that the situation will turn hostile is 73.6%. I deemed this a little high, so I have taken the freedom to look through Alliance databases and forged you a flawless – if I say so myself – document from Alliance Intelligence, detailing your reason to be there and the required clearance." The AI said with an annoyingly confident voice.

"And what exactly is my reason to… visit them? I don't think that someone from what is essentially the CIA in space would be seen as very trustworthy."

Threes was quiet for a couple of seconds, probably running through every possible cover-up story and simulating the results before answering. "You are right. It is probably not a good idea to simply waltz up to their door looking like that. I would advise taking off your helmet for a start and leaving the assault rifle and SRS at your bike."

"And then what? Just go over to them san say 'Hi, an interdimensional being sent me to make sure your daughter stays alive, because four-eyed alien slavers are gonna attack you.'? Fuck that, I want a real plan."

"If you hadn't interrupted me, reclaimer, I would have told you right away. I suggest approaching the father first. Records show the mother is off-planet, on an assignment, so he'll be on his guard. Show a strictly non-threatening attitude and approach slowly. You are there because you are an old friend of his wife, Hannah, from before they met. If he asks any difficult questions just repeat what I tell you. You might want to throw in a salute as well, people usually see others as less of a threat when you greet them as if they are superior to you."

I nodded, preparing myself to be as non-threatening as possible, but being in my line of work (only sometimes legal), I had to build myself up to be able to scare and threaten the most ruthless terrorists, drug lords, crime bosses, and even special forces operatives. Safe to say that over the last years I hadn't spoken a friendly word to anyone outside of Hades (and Sarah). This ought to be fun.

"Let's hope it works, then. We're here."

I stopped my hover-bike-thing around fifty meters from the farmhouse. It was a nice building, but not exactly what I had expected. It looked like it was a mesh between a prefab colony building and one of those American ranches you always see in movies, giving it a rigid and effective, yet homely look.

On the veranda stood a single rocking chair, occupied by a man, looking around forty years old. He was wearing a sturdy military – or what I assumed was military – jacket, and a blue baseball cap pushed down over his eyes, shielding them from the evening sun. He looked up as I dismounted, leaving my assault and sniper rifle attached to the saddle.

"Who the hell are you?" he said in a harsh tone as I got closer and took off my helmet, revealing my face. My light brown hair was tousled and stood in all directions, caused by not getting a haircut for a month and then wearing a helmet.

"1st Lieutenant Marcus Shepard, I presume? I am here on official Alliance business concerning your wife, who happens to be a friend of mine." I saluted. Damn, it felt strange to salute to someone who wasn't Durant or an employer. Anyways, I just repeated what Threes told me to say through my earpiece.

"You still haven't answered my question. And how do I know you're not trying to trick me, hmm? No, you better turn around, hop back on that fancy bike of yours, and get the hell away from my farm." He said, slightly hostile, but not more so then expected.

I stayed put, holding my helmet in the crook of my arm. "Sir, I have to insist. It concerns a possible attack on you and your children, something which I was hired to stop from happening." I half-lied. I wasn't exactly told to protect the lot of 'em, just Shepard, but I guess while I'm here I might as well.

Some of the hostility disappeared from his face, "Who, who would want to kill us? We moved here to get away from that shit in the first place."

"Well, I have no idea, but I suspect someone with a grudge against you, or your wife, or both. I was hoping you were able to supply me with that information. Who knows, it might be Batarians for all we know." I said indifferently.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Ah, still suspicious I see. Luckily Threes forged those documents.

"Will this do?" I asked as I activated my omnitool and pulled up the masterfully forged documents and showed them to him. He nodded and went inside, leaving the door open for me to follow. I grabbed my weapons from the bike and followed, attaching the SRS to the magnetic plate, but keeping my assault rifle in front of me, attached to its sling.

Threes, who had practically been telling me exactly what to say, decided to speak up. "Reclaimer, there seems to be a problem."

I quickly slipped my helmet back on so that I could talk to him without being overheard. I looked around, Shepard was getting his son and daughter from their rooms. I was still alone downstairs. "What is it, bulb?"

"Multiple signatures have exited from FTL they are overrunning the defences. I have sent a distress call to the Systems Alliance, but it will be a while before they will be able to respond. I have also taken the liberty to alarm the colonial administration of an impending raid. There are several shuttles heading towards the countryside as well."

"Well, shit. Alright, I'll alarm Shepard. Can you pilot the ship?" I said as I got into motion, my armoured boots stomping loudly on the wooden stairs.

"Affirmative. What will you have me do, Reclaimer?" the AI answered.

"I want you to shoot down any freighters and shuttles heading towards the main colony you can. Remember, though, we cannot lose the ship. Once I finish up here I want you to pick me up. I may not really care what happens to those people, but slavery isn't something I'd wish upon even my worst enemy- disregard that, I would wish it upon my worst enemy, but not on these innocent people."

Threes was silent for a few seconds before answering, "It will be done, Reclaimer." With that he cut the transmission.

I almost bumped into Shepard as he came out of one of the rooms, holding a scared nine-year-old in his arms. The man sent me a glare, but I didn't pay any heed to it. "Shepard, my scanners have picked up multiple Batarian transports coming our way. You better get your children to safety and grab a weapon, unless you want to end up as a slave."

The man's eyes widened and was about to speak, but he was interrupted by a teenager with fiery red hair who came up the stairs after me. "Dad, what's going on? Who is this guy and what's he doing in our house?"

Her father disregarded her questions, instead opting to put the little boy on the ground and shove him towards the girl who was undoubtedly the one I was supposed to protect. "Jane, take Aiden and hide in the basement, don't come out unless I come to get you, alright?" The girl nodded and turned around, her little brother's hand in hers.

"Girl!" she turned around to face me and I pulled one of my Mavericks and handed the large hand cannon to her. It looked almost comical, if we weren't about to be invaded, of course. "You've got eight shots, it cocks automatically and kicks like a mule. Be sure to make every shot count, although one should be enough to blow a fist-sized hole in anything." With that I gently pushed her on, glancing towards the father and grinning wickedly under my helmet.

"Let's get started, shall we?"


It took the Batarians all of about fifteen minutes to find the house. When they came, we were ready for them. I had set up a few booby-traps at the front and back door, while Shepard had gathered just about every weapon he could find. He was armed with a Carnifex pistol, a shotgun, an Avenger Assault Rifle, and a large bowie knife. In addition, he had turned a few bottles of heavy alcohol into Molotov cocktails by adding some kerosene and rags.

I had set up on the second story - in Aiden's room, since it had the best view on the surrounding area - with my SRS, having pushed a desk up to the window so that I could get a more comfortable position and to make sure I wouldn't betray my position because of a massive barrel sticking out of a window.

I smiled, the full mags were splayed out on the desk next to me, within easy reach. I had five mags, including the one already loaded. Each was filled with four 14.5x114mm armour-piercing rounds, plus the one in the chamber. The rifle would leave a vapour trail, but I estimate I would be able to take down at least a dozen of the fucks before they found out where the sniper fire was coming from.

They should be here soon… aaaaaanyyyy minute now. There you are, damn you're an ugly one, ain't ya.

Hmm, I needed some fitting music with this. I quickly selected a song and let it play over my helmet radio. The beats to Queen's 'Another one bites the dust' started and I focussed my crosshairs on the first alien.

Ooh, let`s go
Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain`t no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go

I smiled a little wider.

Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this
Are you hangin` on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat - yeah

I squeezed the trigger, quickly moving from enemy to enemy, blowing football-sized holes into them, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, reload.

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, eh
Hey, I`m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, reload. They were getting more cautious.

How do you think I`m going to get along
Without you when you`re gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own

Are you happy? Are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Look out

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, reload. I heard Shepard start shooting as well.

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, eh
Hey, I`m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, reload. That was a bit more than the dozen mark. Time to go downstairs and help Shepard out.

Hey
Oh take it
Bites the dust - bite the dust hey
Hey
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust, ow
Another one bites the dust, hey hey
Another one bites the dust, heeey
Ooh show down

I turned the music off and gathered my stuff. I switched the SRS for my Gruber, making my way down the stairs slowly. It wouldn't be long until the slavers realised he wasn't shooting at them anymore. A loud blast at the front door proved me correct. I'm sure the pieces of alien all over the veranda would agree with me. I gunned another one down. That was eleven kills, as I was also mostly supressing the slavers when they got a little too bold, hoping that Threes would soon be here with the ship.

Shepard wasn't faring as well, as he seemed pinned down by the window. I noticed that he had only one Molotov left, and that he was bleeding from his leg. Well, that was bad. It seemed pretty serious as well, and I certainly ain't a medic!

I shot a Batarian that was climbing through the window to his left, filling it with a burst of metal. It fell out of the window, but it's shields saved it from certain death. That was something which needed to be fixed. I did so by grabbing my one left-over Maverick and shooting through the wall, which evoked a gurgling scream from the shithead.

There was an explosion at the backdoor, most likely blowing another one or two of them to pieces. I glanced at Shepard and found that he wouldn't be walking anywhere for a while, "Sir, I want you to stay the fuck put, cover this side of the house, I'll go take care of the ones around the back!" He nodded, lighting the rag of his last Molotov and throwing it through the window. There were another couple of screams. Damn, there's a lot of them.

It suddenly turned very silent, my footsteps resounded through the hallway, the wood creaked under my armoured weight. I saw a shadow around the corner. Someone's waiting for me, it seems. No doubt there was a slaver waiting for me to round the corner and shoot me in the face.

Fuck, I wish the rest of Hades was here. CQC was never my speciality. I slowly got closer and closer to the corner, unclipping what I assumed was a grenade from my belt. Luckily the gear came with the suit, or I'd be fucked.

I took it in my left hand, lobbing it around the corner without unpinning it. There was what sounded like a swearword in what must've been one of the ugliest languages I'd ever heard, the sound of an armoured being running from cover was next. I rounded the corner and shot a burst, clipping its shield and overloading it before its friend fired back and I was forced around the corner again.

You wanna play this hard? Fine, let's play it hard. I'd seen the raiders were hiding behind a couch in the few seconds that I was able to shoot. I also realised that a couch probably wouldn't stop a spray of bullets from my rifle. In what was probably a move that was more reckless than it was smart, I combat-rolled around the corner and let loose a spray from my Gruber, turning the couch into Swiss cheese. My rifle gave a few warning beeps, signifying it was overheating, and I quickly threw it aside, taking out my Maverick in its stead. Seven shots, shouldn't be too much of an issue.

My HUD had identified two humanoid shapes behind the couch, highlighting them in orange. Damn, I loved this thing. Two shots later there were two less living Batarians in the house. I attached my maverick to my thigh plate again and picked up my Gruber, but I was suddenly grabbed from behind.

My attacker had an arm around my neck, its body pressed up close to mine so that I couldn't kick back. I slammed my head as hard into his unarmoured face as I could, breaking loose from its grasp and pulling a knife from the sheath on my lower back. I tried to strike, but the Batarian blocked my slash. It pulled a knife of its own and tried to stab me in the armpit, but I managed to dodge it just in time. The 1.66-meter sniper rifle on my back was really hampering my mobility in a knife fight.

I tried to stab it up the chin, but it once again blocked my attack. This time, though, I managed to knee it in the groin area, causing it to double over. I kneed it in the face again, probably breaking something, before I finally stabbed it in where the jugular would be, were it a human. It started gurgling, clawing at my arms, but it was too weak to do anything about it at that point. I gave the blade another good twist and pulled it out, the Batarian was laying limply on the floor, its four eyes widened in fear as it died.

I stood up, flicking some of the blood off my blade before sliding it back into its dedicate area. It had gone silent.

Until there was one more scream, a clearly female one, coming from the basement, followed by the loud bang of a hand-cannon. Shit, that can't be good. Please don't tell me I failed my task on the first day.

I exchanged a look with Shepard, who looked positively in pain as he tried to stumble towards the door that lead to the basement as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast. I sighed, "Sir, I got this. Just stay on the couch and keep pressure on that wound."

I was off before he could protest, carefully moving through the hallway and down the stairs to the basement. When I finally got down the stairs, I saw my VIP a shaking and sobbing heavily, being held by her little brother. The first thought that came through my mind was: Is this really the person who's supposed to save the galaxy? The second though was something like this: Oh, yeah, right, still a kid. Huh, is that blood all over her?

Indeed, it was. One of the Batarians that had decided to go around the back, and after one of its companions had been blown up by my booby-trap, it decided it would go through the window, evading me while I was pinned down around a corner. Its headless corpse now lay in the basement, the weapon it was shot with discarded on the floor and its killer a sobbing mess.

What a day…


Not long after, Threes arrived with the ship. I had bandaged and 'medi-gelled' Marcus' leg and Jane had stopped crying after she and Aiden finally saw their father was still alive. Aiden kept giving me an admiring look, something I was wholly unused to, so at the time I thought it was kind of creepy.

Anyway, after some coercing, I got the Shepard family to get on board the Firespray, under the reason that it wasn't safe to stay out in the countryside, especially after what we did to the raiding party. They would have surely called for backup after the absolute thrashing we gave them.

Jane helped her Father up the ramp and into the small med-bay while I pushed the folded-up bike into the cargo hold. When it was secured to its sot on the wall I sighed happily and turned around…

To be startled when the was suddenly a nine-year-old's face in front of mine. I didn't show it, of course. That would have been unbecoming from a black ops operative. Well, I guess former black ops, I'm an assassin now, remember. I told myself.

I looked the boy in the eyes, which shone in curiosity one could only find in young children. Now how to talk to children? I never really did that much, and I don't think child soldiers shooting at you can be considered as such. "What do you want?" Smooth, Riley, very smooth. A sarcastic voice in my head said.

"I- um, I wanted to thank you, mister. I'm Aiden, who are you?" he extended a little hand and I couldn't help myself from shaking it.

"Name's Hades, kid. You done asking questions?" I hoped I would be done with him after that, but he's persistent little bugger if anything. He saw it as an invitation to fire a barrage of questions at me.

"No. Is Hades your real name? What were you doing at our house? Dad said you know mom, where from? What do you do as a job? What kind of ship is this? What is the talking and flying ball?"

Jesus this kid can talk quickly, but I guess I can answer some of those questions… "In that order?" the boy nodded vigorously. "No, keeping you, your sister, and your dad safe, school, I kill people, this is a Firespray-31, that flying ball is 333 Silent Traveller, or Threes, as I like to call him." I hoped I was done with him, but I say again he's persistent if anything.

"You kill people?" he said with a small voice, not quite believing it, "For money?"

"Yes… for money, will you please leave me alone now? I still have to do a lot of shit." Why wouldn't he just leave already?

"Cool." Did he really just… did he say being an assassin was cool of all things? Damn, that's fucked up. My inner voice spoke up again: Said the person who actually is an assassin and was part of an elite black ops team before that…

Shut up.

Aiden turned around and was making his way back to the med-bay, finally leaving me to do what I had to do, which was take a nap and look over my weapons when I was better rested. I sat down in the chair by a weapons maintenance desk, laying my weapons in front of me and leaning back. It would be a while until I could disassemble and reassemble the weapon like I could with an M16 or M4 back home, but I would start practicing that when I wasn't very tired.

Threes floated over to me, "To the colony, Reclaimer?"

"Yes, I can use a good bit of urban warfare to get rid of the headache that kid just caused me." I chuckled.

"Alright, Reclaimer, setting course."

"Threes, lock the door, will you?" I leaned back in my chair a bit further, closing my eyes and drifting off to an undoubtedly nightmare-filled, restless form of sleep. What a day indeed.


Well that's chapter 3 over and done with. Geez did this cost me a lot of headaches.
As you can see, I've tried to bring out the side of Riley that is a coldblooded killer. I hope this made it a bit more obvious. And don't worry, this won't become some sort of obscure songfic. ;)
He's already starting to change what could be seen as 'canon' by saving Shepard's father and brother. I plan on mixing the different backstories together a bit, so there's that to look forward too, but Riles will of course get adventures of his own as well. For now, though, it is past 4 in the morning and I'm really tired, so goodbye, and please review!