Alexa frowned. Take down four elusive powerhouses in the criminal underworld? Alexa could list of dozens of reasons why she knew firsthand that that was an impossible task. She shook her head. Aria would approve of the task for sure if the Puppetmasters were what the Client suggested they were. Alexa's mind wandered briefly to when she'd be able to contact Omega and report to Aria. Then she refocused. There was a job at hand, and Alexa had every intent on accomplishing her new goal.

She still couldn't get over just how daunting the task seemed. The Client said that these people had their fingers in just about everything. That was big. Hell, that was probably bigger than Aria, and Alexa thought Aria was the biggest fish in the pond. Whoever these people were, it'd take a hell of a lot to bring them down, let alone find them. Alexa shuddered. This kind of vigilantism and the recon work that went along with wasn't exactly what she was trained for. She was a hitman, an assassin, a killer.

"Okay. So we've got our objective. We're still left in the dark, though. Ghost. Or is it Michael?" Alexa turned towards the helmeted one in the corner. The helmeted one. She liked that nickname for him. Better than Ghost. "I think it's about time you tell us who you are, and what the fuck you're good for. Pretty clear you're hiding some shit, so you might as well come clean with us before I rip it out of you," Alexa threatened. She didn't exactly like hearing that this guy was a shadow, or whatever the Client had called him. If there was someone more qualified than Ghost that could've been in the room instead of him, Alexa would've taken that swap in a heartbeat.

(oops! sorry!)

Kali found that she instantly disliked the Client. He was quite the unprofessional, one did not belittle his potential employees in such a manner. His little ambiguous and ambitious speech followed by a complete inability to answer questions cemented Kali's impression of him as a thoroughly unpleasant person. Kali wouldn't mind taking out a contract on him after this business was done, but for the moment he was her boss. Fortunately reconnaissance and indirect action was right up her alley. These Puppetmasters seemed like a formidable enemy but Kali was confident that with her allies she could get the job done.

No doubt eliminating a major player like the Puppetmasters would go a long way to padding her accounts and her reputation, getting on the good sides of the other Underworld bosses was always a plus. They just needed somewhere to start, a location for these puppetmasters. No doubt, they'd have to consult the Shadow Broker or some other Information dealer. If only their Client had been so kind as to provide them with such. Although they could always just use his money.

The Client's revelation of Ghost's personal history made her look at their male comrade with fresh eyes. Dead parents, from the C-Sec bombing? A few blanks were being filled. Kali sighed at Alexa's intimidation but nonetheless she stood next to her and looked at Ghost or whoever he was. Kali laid a hopefully placating hand lightly on Alexa's shoulder and said, "Now now. This is already a formidable task, we don't need to make it harder for ourselves by eliminating a third of our team." Kali tilted her head at Ghost and said, "But she is right. You do owe it to us to come clean."

".............Shit." Micheal had been pushed into a corner, he couldn't do anything or say anything but what they want. No diversions or misdirection, this is where he'll have to come clean. Micheal had thought that he would have to wait at least until the mission was almost over before he had to reveal anything about himself, and even then he wouldn't reveal much. He sighed one last time before working up the courage to get this out in one shot. "My name is Micheal Linn, it's true that when my parents died in the C-Sec bombing, I went to Omega to try to do more good than I thought, C-Sec could ever do. After two years of vigilantism, I managed to almost get myself killed trying to join up with Archangel before Ghost came calling. He saved my life and took me under his wing for 5 years. After cleansing corruption and crime on Illium for 5 years, the pigs finally manned up and sent a kill-team for us. They killed Ghost and I've been "him" every since." Micheal didn't lie once in that entire speech, hell, he might have been more truthful to himself than he has been to himself.

---

(Just trying out the line thing)

"Don't bother asking me anything about Ghost, he didn't tell me anything, I know only a little more than you guys. Why I should be on your team? That's something I can answer better, I'm trained in recon, marksmanship, hunting, martial arts, basically in the hunter's craft. I can use tech, but one thing stands out from you guys, stealth. None of you can use this ability nor do you have training in utilizing it. Satisfied?" Micheal was pretty calm about this, more than he should actually. He was feeling more annoyed than worried right now, he'd made sure he inputted something he can do that they can't. He kept staring a them, waiting for their response.

Well, he wasn't totally useless. Alexa couldn't decide if that was a relief or an annoyance. At least a few dots were connecting; someone had been cleaning up any messes that Aria's people left behind throughout the Terminus. It had never been troublesome enough for Aria to do anything about it, but now that the problem was right in front of her. "I should tell you that as soon as this mission is done, I'm going to be obligated to kill you. You know how it is. But Aria made very clear to me that my primary objective right now is this mission, so your death gets to be postponed. So look forward to that," Alexa smiled darkly at Ghost.

Alexa refocused. "Well, now that we're all introduced, what's our first step? As much as I hate to say it, you two are probably better at this recon thing than I am. I wasn't trained for the long game like this." Alexa crossed her arms. She took stock of what they had in front of them. A lot of money, three mercs - well, two mercs and this guy who really wanted to be a merc - and absolutely zero intel. Not a good combination of resources. "Right about now, the only thing I'd be useful for is killing something or finding out if anyone on Omega knows anything about these 'Puppetmasters,'" Alexa had to scoff at that. The Puppetmasters. How utterly pretentious could you get?

Kali raised an eyebrow appreciatively, it was good to know that their third member had more utility than previously thought. They needed someone who was a crack shot, Kali was competent with her SMG but there was a reason she mostly stuck to her shotgun and her blades. Having someone with a tactical cloak was always an advantage, but Kali had always found that she could be just as quiet and stealthy without one. Kali smiled at Ghost, "Well it's nice to finally meet you Michael."

Kali stared obliquely at Alexa and rolled her eyes, "Well I'm glad we cleared the air, but honestly Alexa. That's just not something you say to a man." Kali didn't particularly care for Michael but throwing his morale down the gutter before a near-impossible mission wasn't a smart move. And one didn't just tell a man they would kill them, one should just kill them. Kali chuckled, "At the very least give him a head-start, who knows he might save your life by time we're done."

The Asari Huntress smiled at Alexa and spoke up, "Well this is exactly the kind of thing I was trained for. Long campaigns against numerically superior enemies. Although I am more than sure that quite a bit of killing will be involved. Knowledge is power, I say we put out feelers through all our contacts and determine who these Puppetmasters are. Or at least who works for them and where their bases are. I have a contact that works for the Shadow Broker. No doubt with our client's discretionary funds we can find out something about this group. I encourage you both to use your own networks and we can pool our information."

Kali pulled up her Omni-Tool and started typing. Her encrypted text messages reached her contact and he replied.



Her Omni-Tool beeped as H sent over all the files they had on the Puppetmasters and Kali opened the files, displaying it on her holographic projector. Let's see what O could dig up

"Kill me huh, not going to happen." It was clear that Alexa decided Micheal was of little to no use and that he should be killed when she was done the mission. Micheal shook it off, Alexa thought she was better than me in all scenarios and that she could kill him by blinking her eyes, "Typical Merc." Micheal noticed that Kali was the first to pull her contacts, This isn't information on a no name fugitive hiding from Aria, no, this was an organization that nobody has ever heard of, and has more power each than Aria. MIcheal felt that this was a little over his head, he forgot about it and focused on the new intel in front of him.

Not surprisingly, there wasn't much to look at, mostly just what the Client told us. If someone like him didn't tell me this, Micheal would've dismissed this as a myth, but there wasn't many things of not in this information. But one thing that did catch his attention was the list of people who had, or was suspected to have, relations (no matter how faint) to the Puppetmasters. "Here, there's a list of contacts that have ties to the Puppetmasters. Wait, I know one of these people, the Salarian named Yarsin Pizora. He's one of my contacts and we can go to our meeting place. We'll find him there and extract some info from him. Sound good?"

Alexa rolled her eyes right back at Kali. "Gosh, Mom, I'll keep that in mind next time. I guess I just got a little too excited when Michael mentioned that he's a crime fighter," Alexa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Killing Michael was literally her job. He'd understand.

Alexa followed suit, pulling up her own omni-tool. It was most likely that her needs would be put on the backburner compared to the rest of Aria's interests, but it didn't hurt to send out an intel request. She sent the message and closed her omni-tool. "I've sent a request to Omega. Someone there will know something, but they probably won't fill us in for a few more hours. Aria will be interested in our mission, but I doubt she'll devote any unnecessary resources to it." Alexa slowly paced around the room while Michael spoke. This stuff might have been important, but it was boring. Hell, was it boring.

"Yarsin Pizora. Great. We'll talk to him first, and hopefully by the time we're done someone on Omega will respond to my request." Alexa stopped moving. She scowled, as a thought crossed her mind. "What do we know about Pizora? Who's he working for, what's his end goal, et cetera. And how trustworthy is he? He might be one of your contacts, but now he has connections to what's apparently the biggest underworld organization in the galaxy." Alexa might as well have been interrogating Michael, but they were necessary questions.

"Look, these guys are the real deal. If someone was after Aria, we'd have people covering every open end in the galaxy. I think it's safe to say that these Puppetmasters will take that extreme even further. If we're going to walk into an ambush, I want to be able to expect the ambush. It's easier to retaliate, that way."

Kali smirked at Alexa's sarcasm and didn't comment. She listened intently to Michael's spiel about his informant and nodded. She spoke up after Alexa, "Since you're the one he knows Michael you'll make the approach. I think you should take Alexa as back-up. And if it comes down to it, I'm certain Alexa can... persuade Pizora to cough up the goods if he is reluctant. But it shouldn't come to that, we have enough money for any low-level operative to salivate over." Kali considered Alexa's reservations, "I agree with Alexa, anything you can tell us we need to know."

Kali continued, "We should go in expecting an ambush, keep your weapons out. Michael will set up the meeting place and I'll scout out the area beforehand. I'll have my eyes on you two while the deal goes down. We'll set our comms to the same frequency and at the first sign of trouble, Michael will say a codeword of his choice. If shooting starts, you two try your best to extract the informant alive or at least any data he has and get out of there intact. I'll wreak havoc and cover your escape, we meet at here. Thoughts?"

"Yarsin actually operates on Illium, he's a Salarian contact that Ghost had. I don't actually know much about him, but we barely consulted him, only when our main contacts didn't have the info we needed. His prices were high and he acted twitchy or shady. I wouldn't trust him with much but we know zero of the other contacts. His end goal is probably money, don't know what he does with it. Just that his fares are abnormally high, if he is linked to them. That would explain a hell of a lot. We meet at this building in Illium and we'll go with Kali's plan, but, how are we going to get to Illium.?"

Micheal thought that Kali's plan sounded good, he worried that Yarsin would be a trap or that something might mess the fuck up. "Whatever, if anything happens we're prepared for it." Micheal stopped talking and waited for a response.

Alexa sighed. This mission was going to be problem after problem. She could feel it. "Aria has people shipping red sand to and from Illium, with ships departing four times a day. If we hurry..." Alexa checked the time on her omni-tool. "The next ship leaves in just under an hour. I could pull some strings and get us on board." Alexa smiled inwardly. Pulling a few strings was more accurately described as threatening the dockworkers with a biotic show of force and dropping Aria's name, but those were minor details. Alexa considered if that hour was enough time for her to make a trip to Afterlife and report to Aria. She needed to be filled in on what this invite was about, and Alexa needed to find out what kind of resources, if any, she'd be given from Omega. Alexa shook her head. She probably wouldn't be given much.

As for Kali's plan, Alexa considered it solid. It was nice knowing that she was just gonna be the scary backup if things went to shit. Being the scary backup was simple. "I have a question. Are we actually going to be paying this Yarsin guy? I know we have a lot of money for pretty much that purpose specifically, but I mean, if we're going to be planning for an ambush, we might as well plan to rip him off, at the same time." Alexa had seen that strategy dozens of times. It was Aria's default strategy when she didn't like whoever was on the other end of the business deal. Show up to the meeting, take what you want, throw some threats around, kill some people if they weren't being co-operative, and leave. Textbook scam job.

Kali spoke up, "We have the money for it and if there is no ambush then we should pay him. There is no certainty of a betrayal but even if there is, we can just take the money back if he does betray us. If everything goes well, we'll have an informant in good graces with us. There's no use burning bridges if we don't have to, especially with our limited force." Kali checked all of her weapons and nodded in satisfaction, "Show us to this ship and let's get this job done as soon as possible." Kali was feeling more and more that she was the brains of this operation, and that inevitably lead to being the leader. Being leader meant responsibility. And Kali just wasn't sure if she was ready for that kind of responsibility so soon. She sighed, she supposed if she wanted to make some money and live to spend it she'd have to suck it up.

Alright, I just want to wait for the three people who just opted in to post their cs. We can meet them in Illium because the Client is a resourceful mofo. We can resume posting after the new people are ready.

(Meant to put this in ooc, whatever.)

Arlius very rarely strayed from her penthouse in Omega. She never had friends to go anywhere with so therefore there was no need to leave her house. She could have any supplies she needed delivered directly to her doorstep and all her work was out of her home. But when ‘The Client’ came to her with a proposal for a large sum of credits and the chance to put her tech skills to the test, she could not pass it up. Which is why Arlius found herself arriving on Illium.

Illium was very different from anything Arlius was used to. Palaven was very military based, but Illium was… beautiful. She very rarely used that word to describe any place. The sights were more glorious than any god forsaken building she had seen on Omega, even Illium smelled better. “Maybe I should move to Illium…” muttered Arlius sarcastically to herself. If she left Omega, she would have to commute back there to pick up the black market supplies she needs for her weapons.

A car met Arlius just outside the docking bay. She leaned back staring out the window as the docking bay disappeared into the distance. The driver sped through Illium until they stopped in front of the meeting place. Arlius nodded at the driver in thanks and handed him a few credits. She left him without ever speaking a word.

Arlius stood before the doors pacing her breathing. It was always stressful for her to meet clients in person, she usually conducted her business through messages. With the mercs she could relay her communication through simple gestures, like a nod or a shake of the head. It never required her to speak. But she had a sickening feeling she would be doing quite a lot more talking then she was used to.

The slim turian looked around the building and saw no one. She was sure she was here on time but there was no sign of this so called.. Client. She opened up her white omni-tool and looked at her message. She had not been notified that he would be late or that he would be unable to come. She opened up the contact for the car she had on standby, but instead closed it. This ‘Client’ had a big sum of credits and she was not about to pass that up. Arlius decided she would wait a few more minutes before she left.

Kerr'Shal nar Lysin strolled up to the building which had been indicated in the message, equal parts tense and excited. This opportunity was almost too good to be true--and that was also why he was a bit on edge. The building was in a fairly prosperous district, well-lit and well-patrolled by Illium police. An unlikely spot for an ambush..... but you could never be too careful. Despite its location there didn't seem to be anyone around, almost as if someone had blocked off the nearby streets. Odd. As Kerr'Shal made his way around the building, he spotted the first person he'd seen in a couple of blocks.

"Well, you must be my mysterious Client..... or at least, a representative," the quarian said, walking up to the female turian. He tapped his right wrist to bring up the holographic glow of an omni-tool. "Shall we get started, then?"

Damn double post.

Arlius stood there mouth open, blank faced at the quarian for a second. He had called her ‘The Client’, which meant one thing. She was going to be working in a group.

“Oh God,” she said in almost a shout. She quickly shoved her hand over her mouth and attempted to pace her breathing. Arlius was not accustomed to working with other people. She wasn’t like most who didn’t like it, she was deathly afraid of social contact of any sort. Arlius finally got her breathing slower than hyperventilating status.

“N-n-no… I’m… I’m not the client,” she finally said after a few minutes. Arlius steadied herself and finally turned to the quarian. “I… I’m… Arlius… I’m… afraid… we might be... w-w-working together.” Arlius tried to say the words but fear tensed her up and caused her to have a stutter. She scolded herself for being so awkward and weird, it was not professional at all. All she wanted to do was run back to her home on Omega and cry.

Kerr'Shal stood agape at the turian's behavior, which he could only describe to himself as downright weird, given the situation. One advantage of the quarian enviro-suit: He could make whatever expressive facial gestures he wanted, and no one could see them through the visor. Maybe this Arlius just had some kind of rare mental disorder that was indigenous to turians? Maybe she was putting on an act for some reason? No one who actually had some kind of crippling social anxiety would be involved in a big play like this one. The game Kerr'Shal played wasn't one for the faint of heart.

"....Okay, so you are a liaison, then? I figured that much out, I would not expect someone wielding this many credits to meet in person. So what are the details of this mission your employer has lined up for me?" he asked.

Illium. Shit, how he hated Illium. Bright lights, beautiful people, clean streets, outwardly orderly. It was as near as perfect as anywhere in the galaxy was capable of being. About as far removed from Tuchannka as you could get, except maybe the Presidium on the Citadel. Illium was a shining reminder of all the Krogan had lost. All they had sacrificed. All they had given up. The only thing that made this place bearable was the knowledge that once you scratched the surface this Asari world it was just as grimy and depraved as any were else. Maybe even worse in fact, at least Tuchannka had the honesty to face up to the fact it was a hole. Here you have mercenaries masquerading as businessmen, crooks playing at being coppers and harlots in government.

Case in point, here he was on his way to a clandestine meeting with some mysterious 'Client', offering to pay him a obscene amount of credits, on top of his advance, for some 'undisclosed work'. And in his business that could only mean one thing, that somebody was gonna die.

Urdnot Raze was coming up on the meeting place now, a cliché back alley setting. Good to know that the Client had respect for the classics. With the sketchiness of the proposed meeting, and the fact that he'd never met the prospective employer most mercs would take some time to scout out the location, making sure this wasn't an ambush or a double cross. But that wasn't Raze's way, not by a long shot. Sure, he could do sneaky when it was called for, but Krogan weren't built for subtle. He stomped straight into view, knowing that even if he was gonna be ambushed then his foes would need some serious quads to take him down. The Turian and the Quarian that were already there certainly didn't look like they had quads. Hell, they probably didn't even have a pair between them.

Raze groaned like a Krogan in pain. He didn't mind teaming up for a mission, but he preferred it to be with mercs he knew, tried and proven. These two hardly fit that bill. The Turian looked like she's already shit herself, and Quarian's weren't best known for their fighting capabilities, the Geth had taken their planet after all, and those tin-cans had flash lights for heads!

“Please, tell me this is some kinda joke,” He said to the pair. Seemed like he was gonna have to earn his pay on this one.

Arlius stared at the quarian in disbelief, did she look like a liaison? She could barely talk, why would anyone have her running around talking to people? Arlius took a deep breath and gathered herself.

“I… I don’t know who the Client is. He just wanted my t… techs skills and offered a large sum of credits… That’s it.” Arlius said. She was a little proud she got that out with little to no stuttering “Excuse my weird actions, I tend to conduct my business through messages… Not in person...” She then looked back up at the masked creature. Quarians were a very interesting race. Very tech savvy, she admired them. Turians were all about war. If she hadn’t left at the age of 15, she would have joined the military.

Arlius heard footsteps behind the quarian and groaned when she saw what it was. A krogan. Krogans hate the turians after they had a large hand in the play of the Genophage. Arlius put her hand on her gun and watched the krogan. She almost laughed at his comment, he probably thinks he is all high and mighty because he knows how to shoot a gun. He probably doesn’t know anything past that, just like every other god damn merc she has worked with.