Silently, so not even the slightest noise was heard, a green-tinted Drell in a dull gray armor pointed his Sniper Rifle down the hallway, using the scope to hunt for possible enemies. So far, nothing. He waited is suspicious silence for a few moments longer, then ran swiftly to take cover by an upturned Collector pod. Despite the lack of a major collector ship, reports from an inside source informed the Commander of several collectors still inside. Just the pods alone confirmed that, as they'd never left the pods behind at a colony before. He knew they were here even if they DID clear them out. Right now, on the other side of the base, Shepard was leading Garrus and Mordin in an attempt to distract the Collectors while he placed a small charge in the middle to blow this place to the deep.
The Drell made his way down the hall. At the end, he could call in and report the area clear. No survivors, as expected. Everyone was gone. Glancing once around the room, he set the demolition charge to go off by remote.
"Commander, we're all clear in this section." He said.
"Report to the Normandy, Thane." The commander replied. Thane was only too happy to comply.
As he made his way out of the room and down the hall, he noticed a quiet shuffling sound from behind him. He turned, curling his finger tighter around the trigger. Nothing.
Suspicious, Thane ducked inside a large metal cargo box and pulled out his SMG while securing the Rifle to his back in one fluid movement. He listened for another sound, then poked his head around the opening. Something flashed in front of his eyes. It was brownish in blur form. Or not. He wasn't sure, being almost colorblind as he was.
He recognized the sound of Collector wings, however. It was deafening. Good thing it stopped after they landed. Bad thing at the same time, however, as this meant there were an unknown number of enemies waiting for him.
Without a word, (who would he say anything to, anyways?) he switched to his Shredder ammunition and formed a warp orb in his hand. As the first Collector appeared within his sight range, he threw it at the bug-like head. One down.
The next one in sight was soon taken down by a spray of bullets, which tore mercilessly into its… Skin.
He shot down several more, sustaining minor damage to his shields. His communicator crackled in his ear, Collector interference making it hard to understand.
"Th-n-e where th- -ell a- y-o?" He couldn't reply just yet. A few more Collectors were almost inside the cargo box. With a deep breath, and a quick prayer to Amonkira, he emerged from his cover and shot at his adversaries. Luckily, his prayer had been heard. Each collector fell, bleeding their creamy blood on the cold metal flooring. He took cover again and put his hand to his ear.
"It's Thane. I'm pinned down by Collectors." A shot from a Collector weapon cut through the metal.
"-old on, w-re -o-ng."
Thane nodded, though no one else would see it. He peered around the corner, and aimed at the nearest enemy. Before he returned, he saw a purple ripple. That one had a barrier. Moments later, a voice filled his mind. 'Assuming direct control.' A yellow light shined.
Harbinger had taken control of a Collector. This spelled trouble for Thane. Even with Shepard and Garrus, Harbinged Collectors were a real pain to take out. Being pretty much immune to any of his Biotics, save for Warp. After the barrier was down, it was still tough getting through the armor. Usually, if he were with her, Shepard would bring Mordin to take down the Harbinged Collector with incineration tech. He would need to take this enemy down first.
Another second later, he charged a warp orb and let it fly around the corner. He could tell it didn't do much, by the reply he got. A black Singularity orb to the face.
Unlike Shepard's, or other Adept's singularity orbs, this one exploded after detecting the close position of an enemy. Getting one in the face was more than enough to break through his shields and deal a great amount of damage to his health. So much that he could see a dark red fringe (Or was it black?) in the corners of his vision.
That voice- Harbinger- in his head again. Something about hurt.
Hurt… He felt plenty of that. His heart pounded painfully in his chest, in his ears… And curse it all, he was out of Medi-Gel. By now he really hoped Shepard would maybe drop in and shoot, oh… Half a dozen or so Collectors? Or at least that one controlled by Harbinger.
Usually in moments like this, he'd be focused. Nothing should have been on his mind but the best way to survive. But for some odd reason-, he had a question. Why would Harbinger come after him, when Shepard was elsewhere?
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. His shields had just regenerated. This was a good thing, as Harbinger was closing in.
Thane formed another Warp orb to work on the barrier. If he was going to die now, he might as well go down fighting. The glow of the Harbinged Collector was brighter. Once again, he let the warp orb fly around the corner, hoping that it did some damage.
Moments later, Harbinger stepped into the cargo box, obviously unconcerned for the damage (if any) the Collector's body was taking. Thane brought his gun level with his head and opened fire. Most of the bullets were absorbed by the Barrier, but by the time he needed to reload, he'd taken it down and a few shots had bounced off the thick Collector armor.
Harbinger brought his own weapon up to shoot, but Thane knocked him back with a weak, half-charged warp. While the Harbinged Collector tried to take aim again, Thane had already reloaded and unleashed another fifty rounds from his Tempest SMG.
Still his enemy did not fall. His warp was still recharging, and he was out of Thermal Clips. The only other option he had, was to use the Sniper rifle, which wasn't good at such a close range. Just as he raised his arm to throw, his head exploded, causing him to disintegrate.
Well, that was nice. A voice- Shepard's- ordered Garrus and Mordin to take cover, before she appeared in front of him.
"You look like you could use a hand." She smirked, taking cover on the opposite side of the opening on the Cargo box. Her Omni-Tool appeared on her arm briefly as she sent Medi-Gel to his own tool. Immediately he activated it, feeling much better as his injuries began to close for the time being.
She leaned out of cover to shoot.
"Nice shot!" He heard Garrus say. Must have been a headshot. For the woman who'd started Sniper training not but a week ago… She was pretty good. Then again, she DID come to HIM for training.
By now, he had his own Rifle out, and prepared to take aim. In a few seconds, he took in the whole scene.
Several Collectors had their weapons trained on Garrus. Mordin deployed his Incineration tech taking out at least three. Garrus took that moment to shoot one of them.
Thane lined up the scope to take out a Collector closing in on Garrus from behind.
Suddenly, Harbinger's voice filled his mind again. A Collector on the other side of the hall had transformed in a glowing yellow light, bringing Harbinger back to the fight.
"Oh no you don't…" Shepard muttered, taking aim for him. Thane followed her lead. Like other Harbinged Collectors, this one had a barrier. It was worth a shot hoping he'd forgotten just once.
To get rid of the barrier quickly, he formed a warp orb in his hand. Shepard did the same. His took less time to form because it wasn't very powerful. It did very little to take down the barrier. Thane frowned at that. He should have spent more time on learning to warp, than to use the throw ability.
When Shepard's warp hit, it did a lot more damage, partly due to just being an Adept.
A few shots from their rifles and the barrier was gone. Garrus and Mordin took down the last of the normal Collectors and focused on Harbinger. In no time, all that was left of Harbinger was just a pile of Harbinger flavored ash floating in the non-existent wind.
Creepy.
"All clear." Garrus called, waving at them.
He followed silently after Shepard, placing his Rifle on his back again. When they stopped in front of his crewmates, he clasped his hand behind his back and looked back and fourth between the two of them.
"Trust you to get caught, Thane." Shepard teased. "Weren't you telling me you were a master Assassin?"
Thane shot her a glare that would make most men cower in fear, but she only laughed. He was glad Drell didn't have the ability to blush, because if they did, he'd be glowing bright red right now.
"Lighten up, Thane. You know she's just teasing you." Garrus shook his head, though he wore the same amused look as Mordin.
Thane nodded. "Shall we return then?"
"Would be acceptable," Mordin said quickly. "Report to med-bay on arrival."
"Of course" Thane nodded again. The four hurried back to the Normandy Jr (Jr being the unofficial title given by the Commander) and took off before more Collectors could attack. Once they were a safe distance away, the Commander detonated the charges Thane set, destroying the Collector-infested facility.
Thane watched from the window before reporting to Dr. Chakwas in the med-bay. Said female Doctor greeted him with a friendly smile, and instructed him to sit on one of the beds while she applied Medi-gel to the proper areas. After that was done and his injuries sealed, she gave him leave to… Leave, and he headed for Life Support.
Shepard was waiting for him in the chair on the other side of his table. Her hands rested on the cool, smooth metal.
"Siha…" He said quietly, taking his own seat. He took her hands in his, as they'd done so many times before.
"Are you okay, Thane?" She asked quietly. Now they were alone, it was safe for her to speak freely. Her voiced was laced with concern.
He nodded. "Dr. Chakwas said my shield protected me from any major Biotic damage."
Shepard looked down at their joined hands. "That's good…"
Something was wrong. He could tell. Last time she'd sounded like that was after she'd received that message from Kaiden, trying to apologize for Horizon. He'd happened to walk past her as she slammed the laptop screen down and headed right for the elevator.
He remembered the distressed look on her face in the few moments he'd seen it. She looked almost as if she were going to start crying. Her voice was strained as she' apologized to Garrus for running into him on the way.
"Is something wrong?" Shepard closed her eyes and shook her head. As if trying to avoid his gaze, she lowered her head until he couldn't see her face.
"I know you're lying. You can tell me anything." He ran his thumb over the side of her hand.
They sat there in silence for a while before she said, "I sent you in there alone. You could have died."
"I didn't, though."
"You could have!" She snapped, pulling her left hand away to cover her eyes. "I should have sent someone with you!"
"You had no way o knowing they'd come after me. If anything, I made a mistake and alerted them myself." He replied calmly, watching her carefully.
"You did your job wonderfully, Thane." Shepard swiped the back of her hand over her eyes and rested her hand over his own. It was shiny and wet. Black smudges streaked across the back.
Was she crying? He'd never seen her cry before. "Siha…?"
Just then, the door opened. Surprised, they both jumped, letting go of each other.
"Mr. Krios, have you seen the C- Oh! There you are Shepard."
It was Dr. Chakwas. "You have yet to see me, Shepard." She sounded annoyed.
"I was just talking to Thane." She shrugged. Thane looked at her face. Her makeup was slightly smeared, but otherwise, there was no indication she'd been crying moments before. She just looked… tired.
"You should have come down to see me first." She sighed, shaking her head. "Come see me immediately once you've finished your conversation. She left, the door closeting with a quite 'fwish.'
"I guess I should go, then. Else she'll send me to bed early." Shepard sighed, though she wore a slight smirk. The Doctor was good at pulling a person out of a bad mood, no matter if she knew she was doing it or not. "I'll come by again later, after I take a nap."
"I thought you just said you didn't like going to bed early." There was that look he'd given her earlier, only he had to admit it was much fiercer on her tired, scarred face. He was glad she wasn't his enemy.
As she walked past him, he suddenly had a strong desire to give her a hug. Before she reached the door, he sneaked up from behind and wrapped his arms around her.
"What's this for?" She murmured, turning her head slightly to look at him.
"I'm not sure." He admitted. He rested his head on her shoulder. "I guess you just looked in need of a hug."
"I appreciate the thought." She sighed reluctantly. "But the good doctor will murder me if I don't hurry up."
"I know…" Thane let her go. She waved at him as the door 'fwished' shut. He sighed, and went back to his table to think.