How's it going?! Kad Dawn here with another chpater for Mass Effect Spade. This chapter is really just going nothing more than some dialogue. I also like to thank everyone who is supporting the story, it has been very helpful.

Chapter 5: C'est bon pour le coeur.

Adrian POV

I stood inside the decontamination in the Normandy. I still couldn't believe that I was a part of the crew. I had one duffle bag with some clothes and personal items. My weapons were holstered and on me, while my helmet was folded and tucked in my jacket. After the decontamination was done, the doors opened and I was inside the ship. I walked in and looked around. Down the hall I could see the CIC and to my left I could see Kaiden talking to Joker. Sweet, one of my favorite characters in the whole game. They both turned to me. Kaiden just leered at me but Joker looked dumbfounded.

"Okay, I knew the Commander would be crazy, but I didn't think she would actually recruit an insane killer." Ladies and Gentlemen, Seth Green. I rolled my eyes after his pun.

"Bonjour to you too..." I said. Joker's did a double take.

"Wait, I know that accent... You can't be from New Orleans. Are you?" I grinned.

"Born and raised mon ami." He smiled a childish grin.

"Oh man, you must of some stories." I laughed.

"Well maybe when you are not flying the ship I'll tell you some." The whole time Kaiden just sat in the co-pilots chair. Someone is grumpy.

"Are you Spade?" I heard a female voice say behind me. I didn't recognize this voice. I turned to see a petit young woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She had blue eyes and a sharp face. She was pretty cute. I gave her a sly smile.

"Oui Mademoiselle. And to who do I owe the pleasure?" She shyly smiled.

"Tiffany Smith. I'm a cadet and medical assistant here on the Normandy and Anderson ordered me to show you to your quarters and a tour of the ship." I nodded and motioned for her to start. She showed me the CIC, and the debriefing room. She told me the debriefing room will be the place the ground team will meet before and after missions. Once downstairs she showed me the lounge area, were the med bay was and the CO's room, which will be Commander Shepard's soon. We then walked towards the elevator only to walk towards a door I've never seen. Looking at it I realized that it should be a the other set of stairs that goes to the CIC. Awesome, a new place. We walked past the door to see a hallway with six doors, three on each side.

"This is where the ground team quarters will be. Yours is down the hall, last one on the right. If you would like to see it and drop of your items before we continue the tour, you may." I smiled and nodded. The room was average size for a military ship. A bed, locker, a desk with a terminal, and a bathroom. Not bad, I dropped my bag on my bed. I took off Sicarius and placed it on the bed. I then took out my helmet, unfolded it and placed it on the desk. After that I took of my jacket, revealing my under armor like sleeveless shirt. I saw Tiffany standing by the door way. I looked at her ready, and she pointed towards my Sicarius.

"There are lockers in the hanger bay for you to store your weapons. Protocol stats that ground team weapons must store their weapons there." I rolled my eyes and picked up the rifle. I'll have to etch the tallies later.

I followed her to the elevator and we then proceeded to the third floor. I was hoping the elevators would be faster, but to my disappointment, they weren't. I leaned against the elevator walls as we waited for the elevator to stop. Tiffany looked at me, then tilted her head. I mentally smiled, it was kind of cute when she did that.

"Were you a Marine? You have tags on." I raised an eyebrow confused, and looked down to see the tags. I almost forgot about them. I wear them all the time that I sometimes forget that I have them on. I looked at Allison and shook my head.

"No, I wasn't. My father was. These are his tags." I didn't realize I said that in a sad tone until after. Tiffany gave me a sad, understanding look.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know..." I shrugged.

"Don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." She slightly nodded and looked away. Maybe she lost someone close to her too.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Tiffany showed me the hanger bay. I looked for Wrex, Ashley, and Garrus but they weren't there. Must be on the first deck. She showed me my personal locker. I opened it seeing some heat clips. I placed my rifle, SMG, pistol, and combat knife in the locker. I closed and turned towards Tiffany. She smiled and motioned me to follow. We then walked inside the engine room. I was amazed to see the drive core for the first time.

"Hello Tiffany, this engine room is amazing!" I looked over to see Tali talking to Allison. It was funny to see probably one of the cutest characters in the game jumping off the walls over the drive core. I chuckled, catching Tali's attention.

"Oh hello Spade..." I smiled.

"Hello Tali. And please, Adrian is my real name. Spade is just a nickname the reporters gave me. It would be nice for people to call me by the name I was born with." Tiffany, and from what I could see behind Tali's mask, smiled.

"Okay Adrian... Well, thank you for saving me. I don't think I would've lasted if you hadn't showed up." I nodded.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders. Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew, it's not going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of. Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all, we will stop him." Nice speech. Tiffany and some of the other crew members in the engine room saluted. By the looks of it, that was a Paragon speech. Maybe Shepard is more Paragon then.

Tiffany looked at me. "Well that is the tour, and I need to get back to my post. Anderson did say that he allowed you free rang of the ship, but seeing as Shepard is in charge that may change. Anyway, it was nice meeting you Adrian."

"Likewise Tiffany." I saw her blush a little and she headed out. I looked at Tali. "I should head out also, I need to do something. Nice seeing you Tali." Tali nodded and went to her terminal. Weird. Probably cause I'm not trusted yet.

I walked out of the engine room and noticed Wrex, Ash, and Garrus at their usual spot. Wrex noticed me and sent a casual nod towards me. I simply nodded back. I went to my locker and grabbed my Sicarius and knife. I then sat down on a crate next to the elevator. I unfolded the rifle, laid it on my lap so I can see the seven tallies on its side. Seven tallies, seven kills. Now to add three more. One for Mr. Dawson, another for the Batarian, and another for the Krogan. I took my knife to the gun and started scratching the tallies. Wrex and Garrus heard what I was doing and headed towards me.

"What good does damaging your weapon do?" asked Garrus. I gave a cocky smile and showed him the tallies. Wrex nodded.

"A point system. One for each kill." Wrex said. I nodded and went back to work. They both eyed my gun. "I've never seen any weapon like that before. What is it?" Wrex asked. I stopped and looked at them

"It's a specially made weapon. The only one of its kind. I call it Sicarius." Garrus looked amazed, like a child looking at a new toy. I chuckled and stood up. I handed him the rifle so he can observe it. He handled it like a new born baby. Wrex just observed on the side, but he was still pretty amazed at it.

"What is the drum mag for?" A good question Garrus.

"The drum is where the Sicarius gets its power. See these switches?" The two looked and nodded. "Each switch is a different ammo ability. Red is for Incinerate, Blue is EMP, Purple is for Biotic, and Grey reverts back to normal. Each ability is like an explosive, and since we are fighting Geth, I will be using EMP for a while." The two nodded

"What does the name stand for?" asked Wrex.

"Sicarius? It is from a dead language my species used to use called Latin. Sicarius is the Latin word for assassin." Wrex nodded. Garrus handed the rifle back to me. I said my thanks, sat back down, and finished tatting up Sicarius. Wrex headed back to his spot, but Garrus stayed. He looked at me awkwardly as I finished the last tally. After I finished and blew off any shavings, I looked at him then went back to my rifle

"Something on your mind Vakarian?"

"I wanted to apologize." I stopped at what I was doing. What? I looked at him with confusion.

"Apologize for what?"

"For judging you. The whole time you were killing people in the Citadel, I wanted to kill you. When you dropped the Batarian, I thought you claimed another life. Then, when you were at the ambassadors office, all I wanted to do was kill you. End your career. But then when you explained your reasoning for killing the Batarian and the three assassins that could of killed Tali, I felt guilty." Damn Vakarian. I stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. Garrus was one of my favorite characters from the game. If I could be a friend, then hell yeah I would.

"Look Garrus. You don't need to apologize. If anyone needs to apologize, it's me. For seven years I've been wanting a purpose to fight, but the only thing I knew what to do was killing. It was what I trained for. It was all I've ever known. But, now I have a chance. A chance to redeem myself." Garrus nodded and he clasped my opposite shoulder.

"Well, I hope you find it. That thing to fight for." I smiled, and we both let go of one another shoulders. He nodded and started heading for the Mako.

"Hey Vakarian." He turned. "Maybe whenever you have free time we can sit down and swap stories." Garrus gave a Turian smile and nodded. I nodded back and went back to my corner. I picked up Sicarius, did some last minute adjustments. I heard the elevator open, and saw Shepard walk out. She looked around for a moment then headed towards the drive core, probably to check on Tali. I went back to my rifle. I grabbed a bottle of cleaner, and started cleaning my baby. She always disserves a little pampering. As I was cleaning I saw Shepard walk out of the drive core and head towards Garrus. She must be doing her rounds. Honestly, I really didn't feel like talking in front of Wrex or Ashley. Guess Sicarius is going to have to wait on that full pampering.

Eden Shepard POV

As I was talking to Garrus, I noticed Spade get up from his spot, put his rifle in his locker, and went for the elevator. I frowned, so far everyone I talked to distrusted him being on the ship. He didn't look evil like most assassins. He looked, sincere. Anderson taught me to always look into someone's eyes. Their eyes always told who the person was. When I looked into his smoke colored eyes, I saw life, not death. But, there was more. I saw sadness in him. Like he doesn't have anything to live for anymore. He was an assassin, but it was like that was a burden on him. I wasn't sure.

I finished my conversations with Garrus, Wrex, and Ashley. I was now in the elevator, thinking on what to say to Spade. So far, Tali, Wrex, Joker, and Garrus didn't mind him, but the other two seem to hate him. Tali was thankful for him saving her life. Wrex really only liked his weapons. Joker liked him mainly because he was from New Orleans, and Joker always wanted to visit that place. And Garrus told me that from what he got out of Spade was that he was searching for something to fight for. What does he want to fight for?

The elevator stopped and I was in the mess hall. I looked around, checking for any sign of Spade, but he wasn't here. Kaiden was at his post, so maybe he saw him.

"Hey Alenko." He turned and smiled at me. Ever since Eden Prime he has become more... closer. I think it's because he blames himself for me getting hit by that beacon.

"Hey Commander, something I can do for you?"

"Yeah actually, have you seen Spade? I haven't had the chance to check on him." Kaiden's smile faded to a frown. Sorry, I just wanted to know.

"Yeah... He was here not too long ago. Grabbed something to eat and a bottle of water and went to his room." I nodded my thanks, and turned. "Wait Commander." I stopped and looked at the Lieutenant. "I have to ask, and be honest with me. Why have him here? He is an assassin, not a soldier. His only concern is credits. What makes you think he won't turn on us in the end?" I frowned, and he noticed.

"I have him because he saved me Kaiden. A complete stranger, saved me and Tali. He had the temptation to kill me, but he did the opposite. I never heard of assassins turning down a job, and yet he did. That and... He is different. I know he is." Kaiden didn't like my answer.

"So you have him onboard because of that. I'm sorry Shepard, but one action doesn't over shadow many. He killed a lot of people Shepard. If you think he can earn some kind of redemption by joining us than by all means you can think that. But, I think he is a lost cause."

"Maybe he is Kaiden. But, maybe, just maybe, he can be redeemed." I turned on my heel and walked away. It was wrong of Kaiden to judge Spade like that. My mother told me that everyone deserves a chance, so why can't Spade have one? He is human, just like me.

I walked into the hallway for the ground team. I heard music coming down from the end of the hall. Must be Spade's room. I walked towards his door and was about to hit the green button but I stopped. It was his private quarters, and it would be rude to just barge in. I knocked. I heard the music stop, and after a few seconds the door opened. This was the second time I was face to face with him. He had ashy hair that was spiked, smoky eyes, and tanned skin. He wasn't wearing his jacket so I got a good look of his arms. He was well toned. The shirt he was wearing was skin tight so I could see his pectoral muscles and abs. He was very well built, and very attractive. What?! No?! He is a crew member, not someone I can flirt with. I looked back at his face and his head was tilted and eyebrow raised. Shit, he noticed me staring. I felt myself blush, and he chuckled.

"Is there something you need Commandant?" He said. That accent was also not helping. His drawl was also attractive. Get it together Eden, you have faced plenty of guys like him.

"No, I just wanted to talk with you for a bit. If that is alright of course," I said. He smiled.

"That would be nice actually. Come in." He let me in and pulled the desk chair out for me. He was very polite for an assassin. He sat on his bed, and I noticed the tags around his neck. Interesting... "So. What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, I like to get to know more about you." He nodded.

"Fair enough. I'll start with the basics, and if you have any questions just ask." He paused and took a moment to collect his thoughts. I don't think he has done this in a while. "Well, I'm an Earthborn. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Father was a Marine, Mother a nurse. I left Earth, and ended up on Omega. There I met a Salarian named Nalik. He taught me everything about tech and introduced me to a Drell and Turian couple. Yeah, it sounded weird, but they were neat. They trained me for two years, and the remaining five I was doing the only thing I knew what to do. Assassinate, murder, and stealing." Interesting indeed. A lot of information, hope he doesn't mind me asking some questions.

"What is New Orleans like? I've been to Vancouver, but never that far down south." His smile widened, making me smile.

"Très belle. Beautiful city. The house I grew up in had a gorgeous view of the gulf. In the mornings you can feel the ocean breeze, the crisp salt-water smell with it. Hard to believe I've haven't seen it in seven years." His tone was said. He was homesick. I was too, but I didn't have a home to go to. He did.

"You said something about your father being a Marine?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes. He was a lot like your Capitaine. A good leader, a clear example of all good in people. He taught me everything I know today. Well, everything ethical and moral wise. He was a good man. Sad to see him go. These are his tags actually." He took of the tags and gave them to me. I read the name. Marcus Dawn.

"Dawn is you last name?"

"Oui. Adrian Dawn is my real name." Adrian. That's a cute name. I then frowned. If he had his father's tags, then that must mean... "My father was killed in combat when I was young. It was a small skirmish on a human colony. Hardly anyone survived." A colony? Could it be? No, I shouldn't ask. I can't bring back those memories. I handed him back the tags.

"What about your mother?"

"She died shortly afterwards. A freak accident, I still don't know the details. She lost a lot of blood before she made it to the hospital. She did die with a smile on her face, my father's name being the last thing she said." He reached into his pocket, but then brought his hand back out. He lost his parents too... He was kind of like me. I lost everyone I loved at an early age also. I shook my head mentally. Enough of this sad talk.

"Tell me about your training." Adrian's smile returned.

"Well, were to start? I was trained in Omega, which is perfect to train an assassin. I was trained by a Drell and Turian couple, Reina and Kadik, and by a Salarian named Nalik. They both taught me hand to hand combat from both species. Reina training focused more on acrobats, hand to hand, endurance and other physical training. Kadik gave me weapons training, preferably with sniper rifles. And Nalik, well he trained me with tech. Honestly I can say it was the best two years of my life. I mastered everything they taught me, and I'm pretty damn good with tech."

I chuckled. "Wait a minute. You said a Drell and Turian couple?" He laughed lightly.

"Ha.. Yeah. Trust me, I thought it was weird too, but they loved each other. Nothing could keep those two apart."

"Where are they now?" He shrugged.

"I have the slightest idea. I keep in contact with them every so often. Last I heard they were in Illium, but that was about six months ago." I nodded.

"So what kind of tech abilities do you know." He hummed.

"Plenty, that's for sure. You've seen my Tactical Cloak, which is my main ability. I also know some basics like Overload, Incinerate, and Cryo. And some complicated ones, like Tech Armor, Snap Freeze, and Flamer. If you did have to put me in a specific class, I'm more of a Infiltrator than an Engineer or Sentinel." Damn. This guy wasn't lying when he said 'tech expert'. I'm grateful to have someone like that on our team. That pretty much answered most of my questions... Wait! His weapons.

"Garrus tells me you have quit the arsenal, and a unique rifle also." He chuckled.

"He said that, huh? Well, I have what I'm comfortable with. A Phalanx pistol with a silencer mod, a combat knife, a N7 Hurricane SMG, and my sniper rifle, Sicarius."

"Garrus mentioned something about the rifle. He tried explaining it, but I think it will be best hearing it from the expert." He chuckled.

"Well Sicarius is a specially made sniper rifle. The only one of its kind. You are familiar with 21's century weaponry, oui?" I nodded. "Bon. Well, Sicarius design is based on the Barrett 50. cal sniper rifle. Same size when unfolded, has similar strength and accuracy, and same clip size. However, it is different. One major difference is weight. It is a lot lighter than the older version, but the body is a lot stronger, so the gun will not shatter when fired. The scope is heavily modified to pick targets and set itself when locked on. And then there is the brain of the weapon."

"What is that?" I asked.

"If you look at the weapon, the first thing you'll notice is a drum mag attached to the rifle. That is the "brain", so to speak. That drum allows me to switch into three different explosive modes. One is for Incineration, EMP, and a new Warp function. The only drawback is the if I use any mode, it will take up the entire clip. The weapon is very complicated, but still simple by design." Impressive. Too bad it is the only one of its kind. I could use a weapon like that.

"Well, I can't what to see it in action," I said with a smile. He gave a classic cocky smile.

"Hopefully soon you will." I smiled and nodded. I got up from my seat and headed to the door.

"I need to go. Get some rest Adrian, we will have a big day coming up soon, and I need my ground team at its best." He smiled and nodded. I was about to walk away till he called out.

"Hey Shepard!" I turned. "Thanks for the chat. Been a while since I had a conversation. Feels good. C'est bon pour le coeur." I smiled and nodded. He gave a small smile back and gave me a mock salute. He closed his door and I headed for my room. Like Wrex, he was surely filled with stories. But, I can't shake the feeling that there was something more in him. Almost sad. When he talked about his family and past he would start out great. A smile on his face, but then it would vanish, and be replaced with a sad look. I know I shouldn't get to close to my crew, but I felt like I should help him. Garrus said he was looking for something. I want to help him find it. I don't know how, but I will do that for him. I remembered the last thing he said. "C'est bon pour le coeur". It was interesting hearing him speak French. With his drawl the accent was different then Canadian French, but it still had that flow. Curious, I went to my terminal and looked up a translation on what he said. After about five minutes of searching, I found a translation. "Good for the heart". I smiled. For some reason, I felt good about it. It was like I'm taking my first step into helping someone. And it felt good.

I got up, changed into my sleepwear, and climbed into bed. I stared up at the ceiling. I reminisced on the day. Meeting everyone for the first time, becoming a Spectre, and all the conversations. For a little bit, I felt happy. It probably wouldn't last, but like Adrian said, it was good for the heart.

Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, just a quick little look into Adrian's background. Also, the chapter name Bon pour le coeur, has become sort of a motto for the story. Writing is therapeutic, and is a lot of fun. Anyway... Please read and review, and stay sexy yall ;) Au Revoir, Mon Ami.

Bonjour : Hello

Mon Ami: My friend.

Commandant:Commander

Très belle: Very Beautiful

C'est bon pour le coeur: Good for the Heart