[h3][b]Present Day[/b][/h3]
[indent]Hazan stood amongst his team, idly chatting with them as he awaited Jek. Their orders had been simple: because their leader, Nik, had been knocked into a coma that was gonna last a long while, Jek had defaulted to being their leadership for the duration. He'd set them out to do mostly menial tasks that befitted their specialisations; Daro was off at their field hospital, caring for the wounded, Ardan was busy blowing stuff up, Raya was busy killing things, and him? Behind enemy lines, assassinating the enemy leadership. He'd been promised a fine, new weapon to replace his old Mantis as a reward for killing as many of them as he could, of course, and he was just a few minutes away from getting it.

”Oh! If it isn't my favorite group of killers! And look! Uncle Jek’s brought you a present and it isn't even your fucking birthday."

"Two presents, Jek. Remember our deal?"

The Batarian gave him a sidelong glance as Nik rejoined the team. Honestly it hadn't been much of a surprise. Jek had given all of them a call out of the blue, telling them to reconvene within the Revenant's main base. Something about a surprise. What else was so important that he had to recall the entire team anyway?

The drell made a slow walk back to the group and Hazan gave him a smile, raising his bottle of water as a salute while trying not to drop his food packet.

"Welcome back, Nik! We were startin' to miss ya!"

Meanwhile, Jek gave a whistle and one of his men joined him, carrying a large case in his hands. With a nod, the man advanced to Hazan and cracked open the grey metal case. Inside, nestled amongst foam packing pellets, was the stowed, burly form of a sniper rifle. Its plas-alloy body, painted a sleek near-black shade of navy with a single pale blue skull on the side, was also adorned with several bits and pieces of slightly mismatched plating.

Jek, seemingly impressed by the weapon, gave an appreciative nod as he gestured to it.

"Well there you go. A fine weapon, for all the hard work you put in."

He smiled almost fondly. His Mantis, sacrificed just hours prior, was now serving its new purpose well: as decoration for his new rifle. He lifted the rifle from its seat and hefted it in his hands. Slightly heavier than his Mantis, that's for sure, but what it had in weight, it more than made up for it in sheer, unadulterated power. 

As he depressed a button on its grip, the rifle unfolded itself into battle mode, its barrel extending outwards as the attached bipod flipped out from within its housing. The muzzle brake was massive, but then again that was what this rifle was for.

Hazan grinned as he proudly showed off his new piece of gear. The word emblazoned on the side of the barrel was nice and clear, and he was happy he'd picked the name.

"So, fellas, how d'you like my new Equalizer? I named her Maker cause she's the very last thing our enemies will meet."[/indent]

[h3][b]Three weeks ago...[/b][/h3]

[indent]"Jek?"

"Ah, Mr Volintis. Please, have a seat."

The turian nodded as he sat in the plush office chair. Not a day or two ago, he'd been in this office, clad in his armour, dirty and ragged and tired from fighting through Crimson Fist. The rest of the team had been there too, and that was how they'd gotten here in the first place. But now that their fealess leader Nik was in a coma, Hazan had nothing to do.

His mind went back to that day. The night before, Jek had gathered the team and briefed them on the situation: the Crimson Fists were attacking a Revenant stronghold, a choke point across a particularly large canal. They were to assist in the defense and counter attack, as that same choke point was also their offensive point that they'd use to strike into Sirn's territory. The team had deployed the next morning, bright and early, and straight into the singular biggest firefight he'd ever been in, and that was even with his war experience.

The front had held well. Nik was coordinating defense efforts on street level with a human they'd picked up along the way, Daro was near Raya holding the left flank, and another turian was defending the right. His position had been on a roof overlooking the aquaduct and canal, along with the bridge across the expanse as well as the buildings on the other side. Everything was going well. Then someone spotted the rocket launcher on the middle of the bridge. After that, everything went to hell. The line broke fairly quickly after Nik had been knocked unconscious, and it had been a struggle to regain control even after he'd destroyed the launcher and taken out the enemy sniper team across the canal, but in the end they'd did it. Everyone did their part and the Revenants came out victorious, but at a dear cost. Most of Jek's able-bodied fighters were injured or dead, and the rest were either shaken, or scattered about the various other outposts under his control.

Later, after checking in on Nik, he'd gone to investigate the spot where the Crimson Fist snipers had set up, but found nothing. It was only now that he was going to find out why.

Jek caught the concerned expression on his face and broke the silence.

"What's the matter? Rachni got your tongue?"

"No! It's, I -"

"Look, I know you're concerned about Nikusiil. He'll be fine, trust me. But I also know what you're really here for. You want what was in that hidey hole, don't you."

Caught. The Equaliser sniper rifle that the Fist marksmen had left behind was something he had wanted to...appropriate before anyone else got it. But he wasn't fast enough. Not against the Butcher, apparently.

"Y-yeah...that's it. They were hefting an Etisalat , Jek. That sort of hardware doesn't come cheap, especially around here. You of all people should know this."

"And I do, mister Volintis, which is why I'm offering you a chance to earn it."

"Hmm."

He sat back. Earn it? A side job, then.

"Explain, Jek."

The batarian leaned forward, giving the turian a leer as he grinned, showing off his sharp teeth.

"You be my little killer for a while. A gun that I can shoot at whoever I want, until your dear leader wakes up from his coma."

"Mhm. Go on."

Unfazed, Jek sat straight again, steepling his fingers as he rested his arms on the arms of his chair.

"To the point, eh? I like that. Well, to the point then. There are several people in the ranks of the Crimson Fists; lieutenants, leaders of men. I want them dead."

"And the catch?"

He chuckled and grinned again, spreading his hands as a gesture.

"No catch, mister Volintis. Just make sure you can confirm they're dead. Take their ID tags from their corpses after you kill them. I will provide you with a hit list, and you will go after as many of the fuckers as you can, until your precious leader returns from his trip to Wonderland. Impress me, and I'll give you the Widow. Don't impress me, you don't get it. Simple."

"Hmm."

Hazan thought for a moment.

"Why not...I give you a bit of collateral. That way, no matter what happens, I'll be getting my Widow anyway."

Jek shrugged and smiled wryly.

"Whatever you want, mister Volintis. If it helps you sleep better at night, hehe."

From behind him, Hazan pulled his Mantis, still stowed. He placed the rectangular folded gun on the table between them and gestured to it.

"Your collateral, Jek. My Mantis. I'll get this job done with my Mattock and my bare hands, but in return I expect to get the Equaliser no matter how many I kill."

The batarian nodded, stowing the rifle in a desk drawer.

"Alright then. I shall take this as collateral for your new weapon, but return to me with nothing, and you get nothing back, understood?"

"Clear as day, Jek."

As Hazan stood to leave, Jek spoke again.

"Just so you know, mister Volintis, I don't normally...bargain with other people, but because I'm interested in your skills, I'll let this slide. Otherwise, you'd have ended up a smear on the floor, you get me?"[/indent]

[b][h3]Two weeks ago...[/h3][/b]

[indent]A whisper. Muffled noise.

Within the confines of an abandoned apartment building, a Crimson Fist assault team fanned out. Their leader, a distinctly large krogan, gestured upstairs with a flick of his shotgun. The gaggle of vorcha with him snarled and loped upstairs, while the salarian and turian behind him fanned out into the other rooms in the lobby. As another turian approached his side, the krogan held a hand to his helmet and activated his comms.

"Sirn? Krom here. We're at the target building. Are you sure he's here?"

[i]"Yes yes, Krom. It's the same building where the shots that killed Barakk came from. He's in there."[/i]

Krom huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Sirn, but I'm trusting you on this. It's the third time this week that we've gone and found nothing in one of these hidey holes."

[i]"Just find him and exterminate him, Krom. That's an order."[/i]

Another huff.

"Fine. Krom out."

The krogan signed out as his partner gave him a glance.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. He's just wasting our time out here, I swear."

Just then the salarian and other turian emerged from the back of the apartment lobby. With brief shakes of their heads, they indicated an all clear. Krom nodded, drew a circle in the air with a finger and his squad closed in around him as he advanced forward.

"Alright squad, let's head upstairs. Vorcha are clearin' the place so let's go clean up after 'em -"

Suddenly a scream. Followed by a vorcha splattering onto the floor in front of him. Gunshots echoed from up above, along with the telltale sounds of the vorcha yelling, cursing and snarling and screaming as they perished. Multiple cracks echoed down the stairwell, regular and distinct, amidst the sporadic gunfire put up by the vermin. The squad raised their guns by instinct as the sounds of the vorcha above tapered off until nothing remained. Then the hiss of a heat sink being ejected to cool.

The turian on Krom's left glanced at him.

"That's him. That [b]has[/b] to be him!"

"Shut up, Ix! Of course it's him! Squad, close up on my six. We're going up."

The three formed up behind him as Krom started upstairs. The first few floors held nothing, but as they approached the level the vorcha were on, the krogan was the first to behold the carnage.

His gaggle of vorcha were dead, obviously. The corridor that they had entered was their death bed. With such a narrow chokepoint, all their mystery gunman had to do was position himself at either end and open fire. Caught in such a hail, the vorcha had gone down mostly without a fight. Holes peppered their corpses, one or two with a missing hand or a hole in its face. Their shooter was nowhere to be found.

Krom flicked ahead with his hand, and the salarian and turian moved ahead, guns covering the hallway as one of them moved through it, cautiously avoiding the bodies as he went. While Krom kept his shotgun trained down the hall, Ix brought up the rear, his rifle trained at the stairwell.

The turian in the hallway reached the far end and swept it. Krom motioned for his salarian teammate to move down the hall as he moved up to cover him, while Ix kept close to his back, rifle still trained on the stairs that they'd just climbed.

A blur shifted from the other stairwell and headed downward.

As Krom began to move up, Ix positioned himself at the hallway entrance. Then the turian turned around to follow his leader.

Which was when an invisible pair of hands wrapped themselves around his head and twisted.

The sound of breaking vertebrae drew the attention of the rest of them, even as the corpse, his neck horribly contorted, fell heavily to the floor, thudding onto the vorcha beneath him. Krom blasted at the open space even as the blur shifted away, heading upstairs as the rest of the squad opened fire at where it had just been. After about a second Krom yelled.

"Stop! Stop firing! He's gone!"

"But Ix -"

"He's dead! Fucker's in here somewhere."

Krom reactivated his comms as his two remaining teammates advanced forward to recheck the stairwell.

"Sirn?"

[i]"I hear you Krom."[/i]

"He's here. I've already lost the vorcha and Ix."

[i]"All the vorcha?"[/i]

"All of 'em."

He heard the other krogan sigh.

[i]"Dammit...alright, stay with your team, but I'm pulling you out. Return to base. It's too dangerous."[/i]

"Got it. Krom out."

He nodded to his squad, who formed up alongside him as he proceeded back down the staircase. Past the next floor they ran, and down another floor. As they hit the next floor down, the turian behind slowed to clear the hallway as Krom and the salarian moved downward. He turned to follow, which was when an invisible hand grabbed his ankle and pulled. Krom and his squadmate spun round and watched as their comrade was yanked into the hallway, screaming and scrabbling at the ground in terror. A sickening thud and crack echoed out through the hallway as his screams devolved into whimpering gurgles that died out moments later.

The salarian made a move towards the hallway but Krom stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

"Leave him! We need to get out of here!"

With a pained expression, he nodded and the duo continued downward, but they didn't make it far. As the salarian rounded the staircase and scrambled for the next one down, an invisible hand grabbed his thin neck right in front of Krom. It pulled and the salarian tumbled out over the railing and fell screaming down to the ground floor, where he splattered just like the vorcha before him had.

A gentle tap came from behind him. He spun as footsteps echoed down the hallway to his right. With a growl, Krom racked the slide on his shotgun and followed them, firing a blast down the corridor in a fit of rage.

"Come out! I know you're down there!"

In response, an ice blue lance of fire shot from the other end of the hall, striking the krogan in his knee, making him drop with a roar of pain. Another lance followed right behind it, punching through his calf and shin and severing his lower leg. With a bellow he dropped to the floor, raising his shotgun to fire at the invisible threat, but a third lance issued out, striking his weapon out from his hands. Two more lances burst from the darkness, striking the krogan in his left arm even as he struggled to right himself. The limb broke from the sheer force of the shots and he crumpled to the ground with a cry of pain.

From the other end of the hall, the invisible presence stood, smoke rising from an invisible gun barrel even as the shooter strode slowly towards his downed target. From the shadows, the man deactivated his active camoflage as he emerged, revealing the silhouette of a turian. Krom paled.

"Y-you!"

Without responding, the turian leveled his rifle at his chest and pulled the trigger. A molten bolt of metal impacted his armour, making him grunt and moan in pain as bone cracked from the blunt force. Two more shots followed, sending him flat onto the floor as he strode up onto his body. Staring straight down the barrel of a gun, Krom gulped.

"W-what d'you want with me?!"

"I want your life."

"W-wait don't -"

The turian shifted his rifle to Krom's throat and fired until his weapon overheated. As the krogan gurgled and choked on his own blood, he stepped off the corpse and gave it a cursory once-over. Finding what he came for, the turian ripped the insignia and name tag from the dead krogan's chestplate and stuffed it into a pouch. Just as he left, though, the corpse's comms crackled.

[i]"Krom? This is Sirn, come in. Krom, respond."[/i]

The turian leaned down and keyed the comms with a hand.

"Krom's dead."

[i]"What?! Who is this?!"[/i]

"A ghost."[/indent]