A/N: After much thought, and a bit of research, I decided to integrate something into the story that I know a lot of you have been asking about since the start of this story. And it is something that will greatly help Alex through his journey.

Now I'm not gonna bore you any longer, let's start this shit.

I own nothing

"This is Emily Wong with the Citadel News Network. In the last few weeks there have been repeated reports of groups of mercenaries being completely eradicated with military-like precision. According to Citadel Security, the acts were committed by a single individual that most likely possesses unique armor and weapons making them unidentifiable."

"Eye witness reports from the survivors of the attacks state that the individual in question, 'moves like a ghost and is unaffected by gunfire'."

"There have been five attacks that have only left a handful of survivors who had the right state of mind to surrender. It is also known that any and all civilians involved were not harmed in the slightest from whoever is committing the attacks."

"Police sketch artists, with the aid of witnesses, have created and released this image of the vigilante responsible for the attack on the mercenary groups."

An image of a black and silver armored man appeared with a red visor standing tall. "C-Sec has given the unknown vigilante the name 'Maverick', for his so called 'disregard for the laws put in place and for taking the law into his own hands against the mercs'."

"On a personal note, this journalist has to wonder; is this 'Maverick' such a bad person? He has put his life on the line to ensure than dangerous individuals are stopped before they commit dangerous acts against the public here on the Citadel. Doesn't an average citizen have the right to defend their fellow person?"

"For now all we can do is watch and wait. This is Emily Wong with the Citadel News Network."

Executor Pallin switched off the tv before turning and looking at all of the officers and detectives gathered around him. "I want to know, who the hell released this to the press!" he roared to the room making several rookie cops flinch.

"We were suppose to keep this out of the public as much as possible. Now everyone on the station will be looking at this man as some kind of a hero." said the Executor as he put his hands behind his back. "He is not a hero. This 'Maverick', is a vigilante. There are laws in place for a reason. A citizen cannot take the law into their own hands simply because they think it is right."

Pallin looked at each of them for a moment, "I want this man found. I want him brought in and booked. And for Spirits' sake don't let anymore information make it to the press." With that the meeting came to an end and all of the C-Sec officers separated and went back to their jobs.

Garrus stood with his back to the wall with his arms crossed, "Six weeks, and this guy's got a reputation that's on par with a handful of Council Spectres." Chellick muttered shaking his head from his spot next to his fellow detective.

The Executor turned to them, "Garrus, Chellick any leads on this guy?" Garrus shook his head, "It's like the eye witness reports have said. The man's a ghost. Comes in, kills the mercs, destroys their operations, and vanishes without a trace. His suit is nothing seen in any military branch including the Alliance. Whoever he is, he's got his hands on some very powerful toys."

Chellick reached over and pulled up an evidence bag which contained three different shell casings, "This is the only thing that's really identifiable."

Pallin took the bag and looked at the casings. "He uses slug rounds with gunpowder?" he asked a little shocked. Garrus nodded, "Human antique weapons that operate this well? Very rare. And this kind of ammo runs out awefully quick with what he does. He'll have to re-arm himself at some point, and there aren't many places on the Citadel where this kind of ammunition can be made."

The Executor nodded handing the evidence back to the detective, "Do what you can. And keep me posted when something new comes up."

X

Alexander 'Maverick' Drake

Zen's Armaments - Lower Wards

October 13, 2180 - 11:21 hours

Alex screwed in another component to the project he had been working on the last two weeks. Business in the shop had been rather slow lately, and he had decided to work on something that had been in the planning stages for a while now.

Ever since his first operation against the Blue Suns, Alex had been going out of his way to figure out what they were up to.

The data he collected lead to several smaller operations throughout the Citadel, many had to do with Red Sand being distributed to several known dealers throughout the station. Alex managed to take down two manufacturing locations, an outpost, and an underground recruitment center in the last six weeks since the first op.

However, the soldier couldn't help but shake the feeling that something else was going on. Something big. And he needed to find out what before anything happened.

Shaking his head, Alex went back to his project as he began to think about what else had been happening. After finding out that Reena had been staying at a rundown Turian shelter where the other occupants treated her like shit, he all but forced her to move into his place.

The Quarian had naturally fought against it, but caved after some time. But she refused to take his bed, saying that his couch was more than enough. Though that didn't stop Alex from stocking his kitchen cabinets with different flavored nutrient pastes and installing a bacterial sterilization unit for the bathroom so she could shower.

Reena had nearly been in tears with how kind her Human friend had been to her. Alex had shown her more kindness than all of the people she had ever met combined and she cherished their friendship more than anything in the traverse.

Things with Zen had also been good. The old Krogan was full of war stories from his time as a mercenary and from back when he fought in the rebellions. On really slow days the three of them would sit in the back and talk about anything. Zen's war stories. Reena's upbringing on the Migrant Fleet. And even Alex's past experiences on the 'colony he grew up on'.

The three of them got along great, nothing could be better.

After putting the finishing touches, Alex looked down at his creation. Since he was so good with stealth in his operations he decided that he needed something he could use at a distance that didn't make noise. But at the same time could penetrate kinetic barriers and deal a kill shot.

Hense the creation of the bow that laid on the table before him. It was larger than the average compound bow, made of the strongest and most flexible materials he could locate. It had a grip similar to that of a rifle, along with a laser sight designator that could connect with his HUD when he is in the nano suit for precision shots.

The bow was also collapsible like the average weapon around here. Able to fold into a smaller form making it easier to carry, then unfold to it's full size at the press of a button located on the top of the grip.

The arrows for the bow were easier to make than the bow itself. Made from roughly the same materials making them strong and light weight so that they could travel a long distance despite possible wind resistance.

While he worked on the arrows, he had another idea.

Taking a few of the already made arrows, Alex filled the shafts with explosive gel and installing a tiny transmitter at the base of the heads. In doing this, he had the ability to shoot a target and detonate the arrow with the press of a second button that was under the first.

After trial and error, Alex had managed to perfect the explosive arrows. Each one having the payload to rival two frag grenades.

With what he could get, he was able to make 50 regular arrows and 20 explosive ones. And it wouldn't take much for him to get material to make more if he needed it. "Your project finally done?" asked Reena coming up behind him and looking at his work.

Alex grinned as he hit the button on the grip and unfolding the bow. "Yup. And it works better than I originally thought." The Quarian looked the weapon over with a careful eye. Very impressed at what her friend was able to create from raw material.

"It's very interesting. What kind of weapon is it?" she asked running her fingers over the nylon strings of the bow.

"It's a bow. A weapon we Humans used long before the invention of firearms. It is able to fire a straight arrow long distances and only makes the slightest of sounds. Perfect for stealth while hunting." Alex explained.

Reena looked from the weapon to him, "Why make something like this? It's so...primative."

Alex chuckled, "It may be primitive, but with a few upgrades it could be utilized in any situation in this day and age."

"I think it could be effective." said Zen approaching them. "A weapon that makes no sound, able to take down an enemy without detection. It's damn impressive. Let's see it in action."

Picking up one of the arrows, Alex notched it and looked at an empty crate on the other side of the room over 80 feet away. Drawing the string back, the red laser sight marked the crate as the soldier let the arrow go.

The arrow made no noise as it shot across the room and imbedded itself into the metal crate exactly where the laser had laid. Alex lowered the bow with a satisfied smirk. "Perfect. Took me a while to correct the targeting laser."

Zen walked over and pulled the arrow out of the crate and looked over it carefully. "Very impressive. What gave you the idea to make it?" Alex shrugged, "Side job. Thought it could be useful somewhere down the line, you never know."

"You planning on hunting Varren?" asked the old Krogan, his lone eye narrowing.

Alex smirked, "Something like that."

X

Tarak was not a happy Batarian. In the last month and a half his carefully laid plans were being dismantled by the vigilante known to the public as 'Maverick'.

The asshole had destroyed five separate operations and killed over 50 of his men. His boss wasn't happy and wanted blood for what had happened, he didn't want nothing to disrupt what they had set in motion.

The Blue Suns were going to make a statement, and they'd be damned if some punk in a suit was going to stop them.

X

Alexander 'Maverick' Drake

Industrial District - Citadel

October 14, 2180 - 0130 hours

Alex looked out from the rooftop he was perched on. The building below was smaller, four stories and had Blue Suns stationed around it. His HUD had eight tagged, three on the rooftop, four milling around in the front entrance. The last was on the rooftop right next to the building he was perched on holding a sniper rifle.

The mercs had upped their security since their other operations were destroyed. But sadly it wouldn't be enough.

Taking out his newly dubbed Predator Bow, pulling out an arrow from the armored quiver on his back next to his Grendel. He notched it and drew back the string. His HUD lighting up with crosshairs and zooming in on the target as the targeting system of the bow connected with the suit.

Releasing the shot, the arrow gave a low whistle as it flew through the air imbedding itself into the merc's neck and dropping him like dead weight.

Putting the bow away, Alex walked to the opposite side of the rooftop. Turning around before sprinting at full speed across and leaping over the 30 foot gap between buildings, landing on his feet lightly as he treaded over to the dead merc.

Removing the arrow and picking up the merc's Mantis sniper rifle, he saw that it was silenced. Not surprising since this place has a lot of people within ear shot that could hear a high powered rifle when it fired.

Taking up the merc's position, Alex braced the rifle on the building's ledge and had his HUD link up with the scope as he looked down the sights at the men patrolling the rooftop. All three were standing at each corner of the rooftop, the last one was taken up by the door leading to the stairwell.

"Shooting gallery." he muttered sighting the merc farthest away from the other two.

The rifle gave a light chirp and the merc went down. Quickly sighting the next one before either of the remaining ones saw what happened, Alex squeezed the trigger dropping the second.

The last merc saw his buddy go down and ran over, reaching for his ear piece when the rifle fired one last time and blowing his brains out the back of his head.

Lowering the rifle and observing the four guards by the front door, Alex saw that they were completely oblivious of what happened to their comrades. "Fucking morons." he said using his strength to break the sniper rifle in half before running and leaping to the next rooftop.

He jumped from building to building until he was on the one right next to the target. The issue was that this leap would have to clear a 65 foot gap. "Gonna need some help on this one." said Alex as he prepared to sprint. "Maximum Power." He took off in a dead run, reaching the edge in seconds as he leapt high into the air.

The soldier cleared over half the distance when he realized he might not make it. "Oh...shit!" He flailed a bit and managed to grab the ledge, but the momentum caused him to slam hard into the side of the building face first.

"Did you guys hear something?" asked one of the mercs down below. Shaking his head and ignoring the blood dripping from his nose under his helmet, Alex activated his cloak and vanished from sight as the four mercs on guard looked around a moment.

"Your fucking paranoid." muttered a Turian merc. "Hay, I'd rather be paranoid than fucking dead. You've heard about what happened to those other places in the last few weeks. Whose to say that that guy Maverick won't show up here?" said the first merc.

"Security's been beefed up, so stop being such a fuckin pussy." said another merc as they went back to their guard duty.

Letting out a breath, Alex pulled himself onto the roof cloak still activated as he walked past the dead bodies and toward the stairwell. But as he approached he saw the holo-lock start to cycle.

Pressing his body to the wall next to the door, Alex pulled out his knife as a Turian in full Blue Sun armor walked out holding an assault rifle. "Hay anyone heard from...what the fuck?" Alex jumped out, yanking the merc's head back and burrowing the knife into his neck causing blue blood to spray everywhere.

Snapping the Turian's neck for good measure, he dragged the body into the shadows and hid it before heading into the stairwell. "Prophet, run a scan. How many assholes are we dealing with?"

"Scans indicate 21 hostiles including those patrolling outside the building. The target it located on the fourth floor."

The target was a Human named Marcus Greves. Blue Suns Lieutenant and an information broker. After going through all of the information he had gathered, Alex had yet to discover what the mercs were after. But during one of his raids he found the name of one of the many Information brokers in the group.

Greves was known for having information to assist in what they did in several systems. His being on the Citadel was not a good thing. And he was going to tell Alex why he was there.

Moving silently down the stairwell, Alex entered the fourth floor with his cloak still active as he surveyed the large room. The whole floor was mostly office cubicles, plenty of places to lay in wait. There were five men stationed inside. Two of which stood on either side of a door that lead into the main office of the floor.

"Tactical Options Available." Alex slipped from cubical to cubical, being sure to stay off the main floor as much as possible. Crouching down, he waited as a merc walked past before grabbing him and taking him to the floor, slitting his throat before he could utter a sound.

Stashing the body, he quickly made his way over to where another merc was standing. When his back was turned he stabbed his knife into his exposed neck and brought him down gently so he didn't make any noise.

Taking out his bow, he leaned out into the walkway and fire. The arrow went right into the last merc's exposed throat and dropping him completely.

"What was that?" asked one of the guards standing by the office. Alex activated his cloak and started running up the middle. Grabbing both merc's by the head and smashing them into the wall behind them crushing their skulls as the cloak fell.

With the mercs all dead, Alex walked back over to the door leading to the stairwell and shot an overload from his omni-tool into it and frying the lock. He repeated the same process with all of the doors leading out of the room before walking to the middle of the floor.

He took a round device the size of a softball and set it down, the bottom opening into four parts and attaching itself to the floor as a green light appeared on the top.

With his tasks done, Alex headed for the main office door. The holo-lock was red meaning Greves didn't want to be bothered. Too bad for him.

Alex pounded on the door three times before activating his cloak. "What! I told you assholes that I didn't want to be bothered!" shouted the man on the inside. Footsteps were heard as the lock turned green and the door slid open revealing a man in his mid-thirties with a silver streak in his hair.

"What-" Alex grabbed his neck, deactivating his cloak as he dragged the struggling man into the office and overloading the door lock. "Marcus Greves. Enjoying your evening?" he asked throwing the man into the seat behind the large desk.

"Shit it's you!" said Marcus wide eyed, "What the fuck do you want?"

"Information...and your going to give it to me." said Alex taking out a Hammer and pressing the barrel to the man's forehead.

"I don't know anything." said Marcus reaching for the pistol on the desk. Alex slammed his fist down onto the arm, shattering it and making a large dent in the metal desk. "I'm not here to play games Greves." said Alex while the Blue Sun Lieutenant screamed in agony from his broken arm. "I know all about you. Your personally responsible for the destruction of the colony on Sorren. It was your data network that gave the Blue Suns the information on how to bypass their defense grid and shut down their communications arrays from the inside."

The pistol pressed harder, " Over a hundred innocent people died when the Suns took the colony. The only thing stopping me from pulling the trigger right now is that your move valuable alive at the moment."

Marcus held his shattered forearm, gritting his teeth. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what the Blue Suns are after. Why are they on the Citadel? What are they planning?" Alex asked making sure that the remaining mercs in the building didn't come running to the fourth floor.

"I don't know much." Alex pressed the pistol farther into the man's head, cocking the hammer back. "But I do know that it's big. Something that'll really shake up these councilor fucks and C-Sec assholes good." he confessed.

"And your roll in this?" said Alex lightening up on the gun only slightly.

"They needed someone to monitor C-Sec radio traffic and keep tabs on whether or not they were catching on to what we were doing." Marcus chuckled, "Morons are so caught up in other cases they don't see what's happening right under their noses."

Alex pistol whipped the merc across the face causing his head to slam into the table. He grabbed the back of the man's neck and kept him there while pressing the pistol to the back of his head. "You think this is a joke? Maybe my last few acts against you fuckers didn't leave a big enough mark. Now, if you can't tell me about the main objective. Tell me why Red Sand is involved."

"Alright! Alright!" Marcus coughed as Alex let him up. "We needed people who know the back ways within the Citadel. The Red Sand dealers on the station know their way around and gave us intel in exchange for the drugs. High grade shit, had the dealers wetting themselves to get their hands on it."

"I want the names and locations of those dealers. I want to know what they told you." Alex stood at his full height and towered over the wounded merc, "And I want to know whose running the show. Who do you report to?"

Marcus remained silent. Alex drove his fist hard into the man's stomach making him cough up blood. "It's in your health's best interest to answer me Greves. Who is running the Blue Suns here on the Citadel?"

"T-Tarak. Tarak Bhelmont. Been one of the heads of the Blue Suns for years now. He's the one in charge of everything." Marcus coughed out.

"Where is he?" Alex demanded. Marcus glared at him, "I tell you...I'm as good as dead."

The soldier lifted him out of his chair by the throat, "What makes you think you not if you don't tell me?" Marcus grabbed the wrist on his broken arm just as an alarm started to blare throughout the building.

"Tough shit for you asshole. All my men will be here in seconds to make sure you don't make it outta here alive." Marcus grinned.

The sound of chuckling made the merc's grin drop. "I've killed over 50 Blue Suns in the last few weeks. You think 15 more will fair any better?" said Alex tossing the man back into his seat and lifting his Hammer. The gun fired once and the Lieutenant fell back in the chair with a hole in his chest.

Alex activated his omni-tool. "Prophet rip everything you can from the terminal and his omni-tool." he said as he brought up the map of the building on his HUD. Over a dozen red blips were moving from the bottom floors toward the fourth and were massing outside the doors leading into the offices.

"Data Mine Complete." said Prophet. Alex turned to the window and made sure that the mercs that were guarding the front weren't there. "Maximum Armor." Not wanting to be on the floor when the mercs made it through.

The reinforced glass shattered as the soldier threw himself through the window. Hitting the ground hard, making a small crater from the impact. Rolling his shoulders, Alex began to walk away from the building.

X

Back inside, the mercs made it through the doors successfully and began to storm the floor. Several of them walking right past the small sphere-like object in the center of the offices Alex had planted.

X

Outside, Alex brought up his omni-tool and pressed a button as he kept walking.

X

The green light on the device changed from green to red and started beeping loudly drawing attention from everyone around.

X

The fourth floor of the office building exploded sending glass and debris scattering everywhere. The whole floor was encased in fire for a long while before the automated sprinkler systems kicked on to put it out.

C-Sec arrived fifteen minutes later to investigate the disturbance. But Alex, AKA Maverick, had long since vanished into the night.

X

The next day, Alex rolled out of bed with a slight headache. He wasn't all that surprised considering he slammed face first into a solid metal building the night before.

Rolling out of bed dressed only in a pair of jeans, he staggered out of his bedroom to the kitchen. Reena was sitting on the couch drinking a glass of Dextro safe juice with a straw while watching the news. "Morning." she chirped happily.

Alex grunted a good morning as he poured himself a large cup of coffee. "Long night?" she asked looking his way. "You could say that." her friend said downing the beverage and pouring another.

Reena gave him a look, any other person wouldn't have noticed it. But Alex had been getting pretty good at reading his Quarian friend's body language. "Never took you for one to go out drinking." she said looking back at the tv.

"I don't. Couldn't sleep last night so I went out for some late night exercise." said Alex.

The Quarian's head whipped back around and looked at him wide eyed, "More exercise?" she said. Her glowing eyes roved over him a moment. Reena wasn't into Humans, but she honestly could admit that Alex had a body many women would drool over. Scars and all. "I don't think you could get any more ripped."

Alex chuckled, "Never hurts to stay in shape." he said coming over and sitting next to her.

The news switched over to the Asari anchor, "We have just received a report of an explosion in the Industrial District that occurred late last night. C-Sec was unable to comment on the disturbance, but the bodies of over two dozen Blue Sun members were located in the area leading many people to believe that the vigilante known as Maverick has struck again against the mercenary group."

"This incident would make the sixth attack against the Blue Suns here on the Citadel by the vigilante in the last six weeks. The reason behind the attacks are still unknown, but from the weapons caches and Red Sand canisters located at a couple of the scenes he seems to be doing his part in helping to clean up the streets."

"Makes you wonder why he's doing what he does." commented Reena as she got up and headed to the kitchen.

"Maybe he's just an average citizen doing the right thing." said Alex casually. The Quarian came back with a strawberry nutrient paste tube and sat back down next to him. "Maybe, but this seems way too organized and precise to be just an everyday citizen. He has to be a former military man to be able to pull off what he does."

Alex remained calm. Reena was a smart woman, but she didn't know anything that could come back to him.

She perked up a moment, "Oh I almost forgot!" she said setting her nutrient paste aside. "I invited a friend to come and visit the other day. After I told him that I was staying with a friend instead of the shelter he wanted to come around. I hope you don't mind."

Alex shrugged, "Hay, any friend of yours is always welcome." he smirked, "So...it's a he huh?"

Reena's back straightened and he knew that she must have been blushing. "I-It's nothing like that!" she defended.

"They always say that at first." said the soldier. "Then the next thing you know your invited to the wedding and are being asked to be the baby's godfather." he said with an exaggerated sigh.

If he could see her face, Alex would be sure to see the whole thing bright red. Reena's eyes were the size of dinner plates and her three fingered hands were clutching her knees tightly from the embarrassment running through her.

"SH-SHUT UP!" she screamed taking a pillow from the couch and started beating him over the head with it.

Alex laughed at he feebly blocked her attacks. Both paused when they heard the doorbell ring. "That must be him." Reena said becoming very happy and practically skipping over to the door. Alex shook his head, "Poor girls got it bad for whoever it is." he mumbled with a smile.

A moment later she came back leading a Turian with pale plates with white markings on his mandibles and lower jaw wearing a C-Sec uniform and a detective's badge. Alex froze, grey eyes locking with the Turian's green ones.

"Alex, this is my friend Chellick. Chellick, this is Alex Drake. He's the one I've been telling you about." said Reena.

Chellick smiled as he held out his taloned hand, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Reena's told me a lot." Alex shook the hand and smiled back, "The pleasures mine detective. So, when's the wedding?"

The Turian looked confused while Reena body stood straight. "Wedding? What wedding?" asked Chellick as Reena started to punch Alex in the shoulder again and again. "H-He's just joking Chellick, no worries." said the Quarian smacking her Human friend one last time in the back of the head.

Despite his carefree appearance, Alex was now on high alert. C-Sec was hunting him for his attacks against the Blue Suns. And now one of their best detectives was standing in his apartment with enough evidence to convict him not 20 feet away.

'This is could be bad.' he thought to himself.

A/N: Seeing the Predator Bow in action I just had to add it to the story. And even you guys have to admit that it's a badass weapon to have in almost any situation. Update right around the corner guys.

(And a note to Nomad, I've read your review and I say you should give your story a shot. You never know how it'll turn out unless you take the risk and go for it. So I say do it, I'll be here to lend a hand if you need it.)