Author's Note: Thanks for all those awesome reviews and follows. I feel * sniff * so happy! Tell the truth, I didn't expect such interest so quickly. But that's just me… Thanks so much! Anywho, for all the good responses, here's chapter 2! A bit more building, but Shepard will show up soon!

Chapter 2

Sean turned before he exited the door, surveying his work. He had managed to clean his entire DNA out of the house, but it was sloppy. Chairs were strewn about the room, there was his dent in the wall, and blood from the krogan was smeared across the walls as well as the floors. It made him cringe as he left the house; perhaps he could blame it on another assassin trying to take his kill. Sean tried to hide his limp as he once again blended in with the crowd, headed home.

As he rounded the corner to the apartment complex, he waved one of the guards over.

"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Mason?" The guard said stepping forward.

Faking his own horror, he said, "I don't know. I- I think someone is after me." His voice dropped to a whisper, "Don't let any visitors for me in alright. Tonight or tomorrow." Dropping a 50 chit into the guard's hand.

"Yes Mr. Mason." The guard said clasping his hand shut.

"Thank you," Sean said as he swiped his residency card and entered the complex.

The strong flow of adrenaline had finally burned off in his body. Exhaustion gripped every muscle in his body as he finally opened the door to his apartment.

"Oh my God, are you all right?" Kate said looking up from the dining room table.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sean said hobbling into the apartment.

"Alright? Jesus, you're foot's bleeding!" Kate said rushing over to her friend's side.

"Listen I just smashed my foot. I need some rest, that's all." Sean said, trying to push Kate aside.

"Listen to me!" Kate commanded, forcing Sean to sit. "What happened?"

"Really, I don't want to talk about it." Sean said fidgeting and taking his boots off. Sean could feel Kate glaring at him. He thought if he told Kate the full story he would scare her off, causing Kate to no longer trust him, to destroy their friendship. He knew there was only one way around it. Sighing, Sean lied, "Someone attacked me as I was walking down the street."

"My God!"

"Yea just out of now where! He shot me in the foot, but I managed to fight him off."

"Do you want me to fix it up?" Kate offered as she reached down to Sean's foot.

"Do you, know how to?" Sean said getting nervous.

"Before I left home I learned about basic medical treatment and self defense."

"If you could stop the bleeding that would be great." Sean said stretching out his foot.

"I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't try…" Kate said smiling as she began to work on Sean's foot.

Sean woke up slowly to the artificial light. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up. He itched his foot but winced as his finger ran across the stitches that held his wound together. He stood up and gingerly put weight onto his damaged foot. It ached, but Sean fought through the pain as he looked around the room and spotted a crutch with a note tied to it. Delicately walking over, Sean read what was written:

Thought you might need this.

-Kate

Sean smiled and grabbed the crutch and quickly put it under his arm, breathing a sigh of relief as the pain subsided. He made his way to the door and opened it, heading to his apartment's dining room. Kate sat there quietly reading the daily news while eating her normal breakfast, eggs and an Omega equivalent of a bagel.

Turing Kate said, "Oh didn't here you there! How are you feeling?"

Wincing, Sean said, "Better. Thanks to you."

"Like I said before, I'm here to help." Kate said pulling a chair for Sean. "Listen I'm sorry about what happened last night." She said blushing.

"I said before that it's alright." Sean replied smiling casually.

"I don't know what came over me."

Sean walked behind her and placed his hand or her shoulder. "It's fine."

Kate smiled as she slowly lifted her hand and squeezed Sean's.

Suddenly Sean's stomach cramped and he felt the bubble in his throat. "Ulp," Sean managed to utter before he jumped up and sprinted to the bathroom.

"Yea that's a side effect of the medication I had you on last night. You should feel better soon." Kate said, her eyes not leaving her omni-pad.

"Thanks for the warning!" Sean called back sarcastically, quickly returning to the toilet bowl.

Minutes later Sean emerged from the bathroom, wiping off his lip.

"Like I said…" Kate stated giggling

"Whatever." Sean said returning to the seat. "So what's the plan for today?" he said taking a sip of water, trying to remove the taste from his throat.

Kate pulled out two tickets and threw them onto the table, "Well because of last night, we're leaving."

"Leaving?" Sean said spitting out the water he was drinking.

"You were attacked! Plus I think it's about time to leave this Hell hole."

"But- the- if-" Sean sputtered

"You're not going to convince me otherwise." Kate said standing her ground.

Giving up, Sean said, "Well then where are we headed?"

"Illium."

"Illium?"

"Yea I remember you constantly talking about the city, plus I've found a decent apartment we can afford with our salaries."

"Is there anything I can do?" Sean offered.

"Yea start packing. The shuttle leaves in four hours, and you know I like to get there an hour prior." Kate said tossing a duffle bag at Sean.

"Yea, yea, yea…" Sean said hobbling back to his room. He paused looking out the barred window down at the street. Two turians were in, what looked like a heated, argument with the apartment complex guards. Sean paused. He began questioning his cleaning methods of the previous nights. Did he miss something? Was his blood in the mix? No, no it couldn't be. He was too careful. Their probably arguing over the prices or something like that, Sean thought, reassuring himself. He turned away from the window and began throwing his clothes and basically everything he could fit into his duffle bag.

Sean opened his drawer and removed his pistol and knife. He stared at them, remembering every one of his kills; hints of regret slipping into his mind. They were going to a new place, a chance for Sean to restart his life. He could start a good job, be at peace, and be normal. Though he wasn't normal. He had no past, his only friend didn't know who he really was, and the only thing he trusted was his knife.

Sean's head perked up as he heard the artificial sound of the doorbell. He slowly walked out of his bedroom. He paused as his conversation with the guard last night echoed through his mind.

"I've got it." Kate said, emerging from her own room.

"No!" Sean said in a loud whisper.

"Why not?" Kate said confused, turning to face Sean.

"Something's not right." Sean said gripping his pistol tight.

"What's wrong?"

"Just get over here!" Sean hissed waiving his hand.

Kate slowly walked into Sean's room. "What's going on?" Kate said, her voice becoming scared.

"Just get down!" Sean hissed, pulling his pistol up to his chest, and peaking at the door.

"Oh my God! The guards! They're dead!" Kate said looking out the window, her hands quickly covering her mouth.

"Damn it!" Sean cursed, preparing for the inevitable attack. The door then burst open and two objects were thrown inside. "Get down!" Sean ordered, pulling Kate to the ground with him. Sean covered his ears as the objects detonated in a flash of light and sound. Kate was not prepared; the flash-bang managed to both blind and disorient her. She flailed and curled up into a fetal position, waiting for the effect to wear off.

Ears ringing, Sean hopped up. As his hearing quickly came back to him, he moved and positioned himself by the doorway and listened for the footsteps. As one drew near, Sean crouched down and drew his knife, holstering his pistol. He reached out and pulled down one of the attackers, getting them into a headlock. He stared down and sawa turnian with a burn on the side of its neck. The burn could only mean one thing; these people were mercs. The only reason a merc would burn off his tattoo was for a confidential assignment, so he couldn't be tracked. Shit. This is going to get bad. Sean thought as he twisted his arm. He felt three pops from the turian's vertebra, and the turian went limp. Pulling the dead merc from the doorframe, Sean checked in on Kate. Kate was slowly lifting herself up to a sitting position, shaking feeling of disorientation away.

"What's going on?" Kate yelled unaware of how loud her voice was.

Sean cringed as his position was instantly given away. He leaped out from cover and ducked into a somersault, moving to the nearest room, seamlessly. In his roll, Sean counted three mercs headed his way. The startled mercs opened fire on Sean, missing all shots. He could hear them yell orders to each other and finally one began to move. Sean smiled as he reached for a sheet off of Kate's bed.

The merc entered the room quickly and paused. He had expected to be shot, but from what he saw, his target was not in the room. He relaxed a bit, and Sean lunged out from behind the bed. He wrapped the bed sheet around the merc and spun him into a chokehold. Sean entered the hallway again, but this time prepared. Sean felt the mercs open fire as their bullets sunk deep into the man he was holding. Sean threw the spent body at the other three mercs, throwing them off balance. He lifted up his pistol and quickly fired three shots, one into the heads of each of the mercs. Everything went silent.

Sean slowly made his way to the bedroom. Kate sat there, hands covering her eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Kate whispered.

"Come on we need to get out of here." Sean said coaxing her up. Reluctantly Kate stood up. She was stunned, just walking in a stupor. She froze in terror as he saw the bodies of four mercs in the hallway. "Come on. Let's get to the station."