Pein sat in his office like he did everyday. When Pein came into office as executor he had the executor office moved to the new C-Sec headquarters in the Wards. He felt that he should be as close to the crime as any other agent. His job was completely routine. He put the okays on papers and he filed reports from countless agents. Occasionally he would have to report to the Council, but it was all very routine nonetheless. Today seemed to be another one of those routine days. Today wasn't a normal day for the first Espada though.

Pein had gotten reports of a brawl in Chora's Den. Ever since Leonne Rousseau took the ownership of Chora's Den there have been no reports of any disturbances there. For a brawl to break out in chora's Den nowadays was surprising. What made matters worse was that he recognized the name of the person who started the brawl, Ethan Waber.

Ethan joined the Espada a little over a year ago. He was a very disturbed young man, but he was loyal. Over time his personality changed for the better. He became friendlier and was more sociable. Ethan was a loose cannon though. The normal espada agent was supposed to be tactful and subtle, but Ethan was the total opposite. Pein was on the verge of recommending him for the Spectres, but a recent report on Ethan made him change his mind. Ethan had developed a split personality. That "other" side was the tactful and subtle agent while Ethan was the loose cannon. Pein decided that letting Ethan be a spectre would be a terrible mistake.

Not only did Ethan cause a bar fight, but he was sighted at the ground zero of two explosions in the wards.

Pein had already begun covering up the mess Ethan had caused. When Ethan had caused the fight in the club he called for Tyrus Melcinus to assist him.

Pein also recieved a report from the newest agent, Neovgre. She recently completed her mission. He decided to send her to help the other two. She was still new and working with other agents would be good for her.

Today, definately, was not a normal day.

Pein had recieved more reports about Espada #6's current mission. It seemed that Espada #2 and Espada #5 had joined the mission and the whole team was currently on Feros. He recieved no other reports except that the Espadas also kidnapped a krogan spectre and stole his ship. Pein had no idea how he was going to cover that up.

Pein now looked through the files of the other Espada members. Espada #3 and Espada #8 were still on assignment, but Espada #7 and #9 were done with their respective missions.

Pein had recieved a report about a negotiations conflict in the Hades gamma Cluster. It seemed that two small rival companies both ended up mining each others land. There small border dispute escalated and the miners have started to become violent. The Council would not interfere in such a small affair, but that was why the Espada were formed.

Vergil made his way to executor Pein office. He had just got back from his mission that he was assigned and was ready for a much needed rest untill he was called by Pein to report to his office.

Vergil walked into the room and saw Pein was to busy to notice him there, he lightly knocked on the wall "You wanted to see me executor?" said Vergil.

"You wanted to see me executor?"

"Yes, Vergil, come in and close the door behind you." Pein said.

Pein finished the last of his paper work. Pein pressed a button under his table and the door locked.

"I'm glad you arrived on time. We have a mission to do. Since we are short handed we will have to do it together. The mission is in the Hades Gamma Cluster. We have to deal with a small negotiation problem. It should be simple, but I have reports that one side hired mercenaries. We need to make sure nothing bad happens during negotiations." Pein relayed to Vergil.

Vergil listen as the door locked behind him. He took a seat infront of Pein's desk "negotiation problem huh?" said Vergil "do you have information on the type of side arm mercenaries we'll be going aginst?" asked Vergil "because if its Liandri you know I want have anything to do with it"

"Sadly I don't know. I don't believe it is Liandri though. The miners can't have enough money to pay for Liandri's services. The two of us will leave in the morning. I suggest getting any supply you will need. This shouldn't be difficult, but still be wary. Any questions?" Pein said.

"none sir" replied Vergil as he got up from his seat and walked over to the now unlocked door then continued on his way to the nearest hotel to find some sleep for tomorrow, he knew could trust Pein, but somewhere in the back of his head he didn't. If Liandri had anything to do with the mission, and if he had to face his brother, he didn't know what he'd do

they may have never seen eye to eye, but he was still his brother.

C-Sec Agent Ravenstein walked up to the executors office door and knocked waiting for a response. He was not worried his record was exemplary. That and he honestly liked his job, Special Response was great most of his shift was exercise and practicing tactics and this suited him just fine. Most of the time the threat of calling his section was enough to defuse a situation in the Citadel. Today was his day to get a threat assessment report from the executor so he waited to be asked to enter.

Pein had all his things prepared and had them transported to his ship. He got up and began to leave his office. The door opened and he saw Agent Ravenstein outside knocking on the now open door.

"Oh I'm sorry. You must be here for your assesment. Hmm, let me think. Ah yes come with me. I have a mission I am leaving for. You will come with me and during the mission I will assess you." Pein said.

Pein walked out of the office and began to make his way to the docking bay. He reached into his pocket and sent a message to Vergil.

"We have a guest joining us. Not a word about Espada."

(Continued in Docking Bay)

Vergil was walking until he heard his Omni-tool go off. He turned it on see it was Pein "We have a guest joining us. Not a word about Espada." said Pein.

"who is the guy?" asked Vergil, he turned to see that there was to many people around for him to ask about why someone was coming with them, Espada only sent two man teams. "Never mind" said Vergil "I'll see you at the docking bay"

Agent Ravenstein nodded briefly"Yes sir." he then fell behind the executor and followed him wondering where he was going. Fortunately for him he was ready for most tasks.

((Continued from Espada Missions: The Hunters and Negotiations))

Pein sat at his desk reviewing the mission report handed in by Ethan. Pein could not believe his eyes. The Espada caused so much damage. They almost destroyed a Prothean Tower along with killing countless numbers of soldiers. Pein was able to use his resources to cover it up. He was able to make it known to the public that it was a terrorist attack.

Pein requested for all of the Espada currently not on missions to head to his office. Pein's office was enormous and could fit twenty people comfortably. There was a refigerator stocked with food and drinks.

The Espada began to arrive. Pein had a lot to tell them.

Tyrus could feel that this wasn't going to be a pleasant meeting. The last mission was, as the humans called it, a "charlie-foxtrot". Tyrus picked up the curious phrase back in his military days. The turian equivalent would be a "clan disagreement".

He walked into Executor Pein's office and saw the old turian sitting at his desk. Bowing to the Executor, Tyrus moved silently to the side and stood at attention, waiting for the others to appear.

Gerrous Sanctafarian strode quickly into Pein's office. Among the first to arrive, he threw a quick salute to Pein, then opened the fridge. His cloak swung around him as he pulled out a massive drink, then threw himself into a chair. His sword was swung at just the right angle to hang over the chair. His face, marked with an avian footprint, was twisted into a slightly annoyed frown. "Whatcha need boss? I've almost got the broker lead to crack." He gulped down the drink, propping himself further up with his arms, finally sitting straight. He drummed his fingers against the table, evidently impatient to return to his 'interview'.

Neovgre stepped into the office, having switched out of her combat armor for more civilian clothing, she was still armed to the teeth with her Espada sword up her sleeve and her pistols in the hip-holsters on each side. She also still wore the cloak, the hood pulled up to hid all but her bioluminescent eyes.

She lowered her hood as she entered Pein's office, and bowed slightly.

"Good day, Executor." she said as she went off to one side to accommedate the other members.

She was prepared for the worse... but then again, she was the 'new girl'... what would he do to her?

((Imagine a Kingdom Hearts II, Organization XIII style cloak, minus the bright silver portions, and factor in a solid black version of what Liara wears casually on Mass Effect. The first one is the cloak, the latter is her civilian clothing))

Ethan walked into the room and sat down at the couch. He had his head down in shame.

Pein waited another few minutes and the other Espada entered. Pein stood up.

"I'm glad to have you all here. You are all probably expecting me to scold you and do whatever else I am supposed to do. Luckily for you I will meet your expectations. What were you all thinking. You kidnap a krogan spectre, steal his ship and tell him all about our organization. You then proceed to start firefights in Zhu's Hope and Zhu's Communion. You kill 47 soldiers and blow up a prothean tower. I thought this report was a joke, but after I looked at the news I realized that it wasn't. The Espada are supposed to be a SECRET organization." Pein shouted at the Espada agents.

He began to pace and took a deep breath. His face was red with anger and the air around him began to crackle due to his biotic powers.

"Ethan, I trusted you with leading this mission and you end up leading your team through hell. Alex and Tyrus, you two have been apart of this organziation for years. You two have no excuse for what happened. I have made sure that the krogan spectre says nothing. All eyewitnesses were dealt with accordingly. Everyone thinks t was a terrorist attack." Pein said.

Pein walked back to his desk and pulled out a folder. He pulled out the papers in the folder and handed them to everyone.

"Now whatever mistakes you all made have been made. There is nothing we can do from here. The main reason why I called you all here was because of who Vergil and I encountered during our mission. Look at the sheet I gave all of you. Those sheets contain information about the single most deadly man in existence. Make sure you learn everything you can about that man. That man, Sephiroth, is our biggest threat." Pein told the others.

Alex read the sheets. "This is a major problem. If this thing is capable of surviving you then we need to eliminate it by any means neccessary." The specs seemed to bizzare to be true but there was no point in denying it. Something had been made capable of killing them off. "Do we have an idea on who made it, when, and why?".

Neovgre's eyes narrowed as she committed the sheets to memory. Something in it didn't add up. How could they know so much about a being so powerful and so recent in it's discovery?

"There's a rather large quantity of data here for a threat so recent..." Neovgre stated in a rather collected tone "...are you not telling us something?"

Though it was a question in essence, the way she looked and sounded thoroughly said that it was a veiled observation.

Tyrus scanned the dossier.

"Bio-engineering, chemical treatments, biotic enhancements..." he muttered. "We're going to need some bigger guns."

Reading further, he noted that the several previous Espada had been killed by this Sephiroth. Where was the motive? Why single the Espada? The dead Espada were all the lower seats. Was this new threat afraid of the seniors? But that didn't make any sense, given that this man's abilities should easily take them on. Was it that we were more experienced, used to disparate odds?

Was the killings taunts at the older members, some form of twisted torturing? None of the senior members knew Sephiroth. Could this be related to Pein, the only Espada from before the reformation?

Tyrus recalled an old rumour from back when he was part of the Cabals in the military. A project to create a super-soldier by the turians. A Spectre, a turian sword clan and a secret organisation was supposed to involved. Could that organisation be the previous Espada?

Super-soldiers... Tyrus glanced at Neo. Could she be related somehow? It seemed far too convenient. Pein brought her on personally after their losses. Too many questions, not enough information.

"There's a rather large quantity of data here for a threat so recent..." Neovgre stated in a rather collected tone "...are you not telling us something?"

"True." Tyrus thought. "There's something he's not telling us. And it involves Pein."

Pein sat down at his desk and listened to what his fellow operatives had to say. When Neovgre spoke Pein felt that now was the time to reveal most of this organization's secrets.

"Allow me to explain why I know so much about Sephiroth. Tyrus I am sure that you probably already began to suspect this. I had a part in his creation. Sephiroth was created through the use of Prothean technology. He became the perfect soldier. I don't feel that I need to explain why we created him, but I will tell you that he is after the Espada because we had a large part to do with his creation and imprisonment. Sephiroth escaped several years ago and he went off the map. This is the first time I had seen Sephiroth in years. As stated in the reports he is the one responsible for killing two previous #10 Espada agents. I don't know why he has only killed the tenth espadas." Pein said.

Pein activated a holoscreen in front of the group. On the screen was a picture of Sephiroth and Neovgre.

"Now Neovgre, you have a large part in this as well. I prepared for Sephiroth to come back. That is why you were created." Pein told Neovgre.

Ulrich entered the executors office after all the sword people left. He had no clue what they were doing there and he wasnt very interested in it, he had other things to take care of.
"I filed my report executor, it seems my Special Response team leader wants me to take some personal time so they can verify my story"

Vergil was the one of the last Espada to enter. The room was filled with almost all of the Espada members, he gave Pein a quick nod to confirm he was there, and then took a seat in the corner of the room.

Neovgre was shocked to see an image of herself up next to an image of Sephiroth. What shocked her more though, was that Pein had a hand in not only Sephiroth's creation, but also in her own... which didn't make sense.

"What are you talking about?" Neovgre said, still rather surprised "I was made as an attempt at the 'perfect being' by Funesto Deus. My purpose was simply to exist as his trophy and means to greatness. I should know; I read all of his documents before I left and his base of operations was destroyed on Noveria."

'But if he did make me... then that means my existence, my everything, was for this one moment.' Neovgre rationalized in her mind, which was a rather saddening thought.

Neovgre was one of the most "Diffrent" out of all the Espada's. Vergil knew what if was like to be diffrent, he could remember all the times him and his brother were made fun of because of the color of their hair, he could even recall all the times his brother got into a fight just because someone made fun of his hair.

Vergil grabed one of the files that another Espada handed him, he crossed his legs, and began to read over it. "What matters is that you have a life onwhich you can do so" said Vergil to Neovgre as he kept reading the file.

Gerrous shook his head. He'd skimmed over the dossier, focusing only on the combat and biotic parameters. So, what? We're dealing with a prothean superweapon? He looked up as Neovgre spoke. Then Pein provided an explanation. "Whoa! What? You knew about this?" He rose from his seat. 'You knew who was killing the tenth seats, and you didn't tell us? We could have put together some kind of counter strike! Even with this combat strength, the ten of us could've dealt with him!" He was speaking much more quietly now, but was no less intense. "Even if it was just a hunch Sir, you should have told us. You sacrificed 2 good men for this..." He dropped into his seat. "Are we going after him?"

Getari rushed himself into the office, yet tripped in his way into the room and fell on his face. He slowly got back up and rubbed his face where he had landed. "Hey there Executor, another well done mission by the Espada, right?" Getari asked, hoping that the Executor liked their mission report.

Taql walked in behind Getari and saw the Executor. "Hello there......Executor. I want to say that this group of individuals have caused me quite a little bit of hell recently. Not often am I HIJACKED and forced to take these people to their location by GUNPOINT!" Taql said with great emphasis on specific parts of his speech.

Tyrus listened to the voices call out, the indignation, the sadness, the anger, the disbelief. It was then that he realised that he and Pein were the only ones who came from an intelligence background.

The rules for them were different back in the past. The job was everything, regardless of cost, effort or price. Anything that could be done had to be. The only catch was don't get caught. If you did, well, you damned hoped that you were dead. Because death was the easiest price to pay in their line of work.

He let the words slip out quietly.

"Everyone, shut up."

He turned his gaze to look everyone in the eyes.

"We were chosen to be Espada because we could get the job done. Regardless of what was in our path. Welcome to the our world, the world of black-ops and espionage, where just breathing makes you tarnished with the blood of innocents.

There are issues to be sorted out but now is NOT the time. We have a job to do and we will do it. No ifs. No buts. So hold your problems until this threat is eliminated."

Tyrus turned to Talq. "Don't push the issue, Spectre. You will be compensated but now is not the time."

"The main concern right now is this Sephiroth character. It may or may not be possible to reason with him but before that we have to find a way to locate and track him. With your permission Pein I'm going to go see how this hunter handles me." Alex could take a lot of things but his inferiors being sacrificed on a hunch was low even for Pein. The only way to resolve this mess was to take this thing head on and examine his abilities himself.

"You're a fool, Alex. This Sephiroth wants exactly that, a one-on-one fight." Tyrus stated bluntly. "He has something to prove to himself and to us, a play for attention. We can use this to our advantage."

He brought up some files from his omni-tool.

"I have several unused assets on Noveria, namely a ship and some prototype weaponry, so we will have no shortage of firepower. Our two main problems are choosing the time and place of confrontation, and knowing the capabilities of our foe. To gain both, blood will have to be shed.

"Which is exactly why I will go." Alex told Tyrus "While I fight this thing one on one I want you to gather all the data you can on him. I'm not going to let my subordinates die just because I was too scared to fight him myself. I don't plan on dying though, I'm just going to fight him and see if he's capable of listening to reason. I'll leave before it gets out of hand." Alex took a look at some of the important planets. He saw something interesting on Feros "There's a clan called the Segonashi on Feros isn't there. From what I hear their swordsmen are quite capable, especially the two going by Asanagu and Vyrchu. Why don't we see if they're up for a challenge.".

"Ah yes, the Segonashi..." Like most turians, Tyrus viewed the old sword clans as somewhat archaic and conservative. On the flip-side, the swordsmen would call him bare-faced, due to both his cover as a merchant and his career as an intelligence agent.

A mutual relationship of distrust, how appropriate.

"Very well. We'll take a shuttle to Noveria and recover my ship before heading to the Segonashi. I trust you are set to leave?" he asked Alex.

Alex nodded "Make sure you have a camera watching when I fight Sephiroth. I don't think you'll want to miss any of the action." He turned to Pein "Your opinion Sir?".

Vergil layed the file on a nearby table, and then placed his hands together. Alex was always one to talk a good fight, and sometimes live-up up to it, but Vergil knew that Sephiroth was more than Alex could handle alone, after seeing what he did to him, and Pein.

Vergil slowly slicked back his hair because of Alex talking full of himself made him alittle angry, as it sometimes did. "So you think that you can take on Sephiroth all by yourself?" said Vergil claimly to Alex "a man that took me, and Pein just to hold back from killing us?"

Vergil uncrossed his legs, and leaned forward in his chair "If anything we need to send our best members after him" said Vergil "and maybe with the help of this Turian sword clan we could kill this man"

Pein was at first disappointed that his fellow agents reacted so negatively to the news. After what Tyrus said they all dealt with it professionaly. Pein was pleased.

He listened to the plan that Alex and Tyrus came up with.

"That is a good plan. We should involve the Segonashi because they are already involved. The Segonashi also had a part to play in Sephiroth's creation. Alex, Tyrus and Vergil, the three of you will go to Noveria to get Tyrus' ship and then you will head to where the Segonashi are. Getari, Gerrous and I will head to Virmire. There is a former colleague of mine working there. He had his part to play in creating and imprisoning Sephiroth. We need to make sure that he survives. Ethan and Neovgre, you two will head to the Terminus System. The last sighting of Sephiroth was somewhere in the system. I will give you the location of where he was seen last. If any of you happen to encounter him you are not to engage him yet." Pein ordered the others.

Getari suddenly shot up with a smile and felt very happy. Not many times in his time with the Espada did he work with Pein. He stood up straight and held up his head high. "I am honored to be on this dangerous mission. I will do everything I can possibly do to complete this mission."

Taql just shook his head. "Well you all can do as you please because I am not helping out in any way. Have fun no matter what you do. I hope you come back alive at least." Taql waved his head to the group and began walking away. "Maybe I can finally check for that scientist now." Taql thought to himself.

Neovgre still had various thoughts running amok in her head, such as Pein's involvement in her creation.

'Why would he lie to me?' she rhetorically asked herself 'He wouldn't...'

"Alright, Pein." Neovgre said with a nod "We'll take care of it... and I guess I'll fulfill my purpose to you."

It was a bit halfhearted how she said it, and she turned an about-face and headed out of the room after Taql, heading for the nearest rapid transport to get away from there.

'So I was born a tool?' Neovgre thought as she located a rapid transport 'Is that better than being born a trophy?'

((She's not on the transport, so Ethan can come jump in if he wants... or she can go alone))

Kantz was one of the first Espada in the Executor's Office. He didn't say a word due to being a little tipsy; he was drinking more often now that he wasn't able to go on his last mission.

As he listened to his fellow agents go over their missions he was disappointed. He continued to listen with concern about this Sephiroth character.

Agent ravenstein was finished with this investigation. His part was "officially" over he just needed the executor to sign off on his leave for "stress recovery" and a family emergency that wouyld require him to travel to the archos verge.

Vergil watched as Neogre got up, and left. He didn't know about going on a mission with Alex since the both never really have seen eye to eye.

Vergil stood-up, and then slowly gave a bow towards Pein "With all due respect Pein" said Vergil as he raised his head "Are you sure that I shouldn't accompany you since I have faced this Sephiroth character?"

((I don't really want to go with Pein, :P just staying in character))

"That is exactly why you are going with Alex and Tyrus. Since Alex will be the one to eventually fight Sephiroth you must show him how Sephiroth fights. Each team can decide team leader among themselves. Dismissed, I have an appointment with someone." Pein said.

Everyone left the room.

"Agent Ravenstein you may enter." Pein said.

---------------------

Ethan ran to catch up with Neo. Neo was about to enter the transport, but Ethan caught up in time.

"You weren't going to leave without me, partner." Ethan said.