DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

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The Assassin's Ordeal

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1: INTERROGATED

Thane and Kaiya sat on the couch of the Citadel apartment they shared; he takes her hand in his and turns slightly to face her. Last night he'd had a breathing attack, thankfully, Kaiya was there to assist him, but it brought home his mortality and just how close death was looming over him. He still has his good days, but lately they have been fewer and farther between.

"Siha…" he begins solemnly, his eyes fixes on their locked hands. "I…I think…you should look for someone else. Someone you can spend your life with."

"No." she states matter of factly.

"Please don't make this more difficult then it all ready is." He pleads still unable to meet her eyes. She reaches out and lifts his chin until he can see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Thane, I'm not giving up on you. I care about you and I plan to see this through with you. You don't need to face this illness on your own. You've spent too much of your life alone to die alone. Yes, I will mourn your loss, but until then I plan to enjoy every precious moment we have." She pulls her hands from his and straddles his lap, resting her hands on his shoulders. "I am not letting you break up with me. Period. End of discussion."

"I am thinking of you and what would be best for you." He confesses, resting his hands on her hips.

"I am a grown woman, capable of making my own decisions. No one has 'decided what is best' for me, except for me, since I was 16 years old. So you'd better face the facts… you're stuck with me."

He smiles up at her, confessing that he should have known better, his hands tenderly running the length of her arms.

"Yes, you should have." She smiles back at him. "You said it yourself; we Sihas are a tenacious bunch." She ends any further comments by pressing her lips to his.

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Thane comes out of the memory to a loud, continual sound like an alarm of some kind. He has just enough time to wonder why the alarm is sounding before his mind figures out the alarm is him screaming. Electricity dances across and through him, sending intense pain along his nerves. The Batarian finally releases the trigger and Thane slumps desperate to catch his breath and infinitely grateful the pain had stopped.

The Batarian takes a moment to allow Thane to catch his breath before asking. "Have you changed your mind, Drell?"

"No." Thane weakly answers his defiant eyes locking onto his tormentor's face.

"This is a waste of time Vox; we've been at this for three days." A second Batarian says obviously irritated with Thane's strong will. "Bring in Monster and let it have a go at him. It hasn't failed us yet."

"The Salarian isn't done with it yet, Alak." Vox responded.

"That bastard is on our payroll, remind him of that and fetch Monster." Vox orders, watching Alak leave the room to fulfill his orders. Vox studies Thane who is strung up in a primitive, yet effective, manner…upright on a metal mesh with chains securing the Drell's wrists and ankles.

"There's no need for all this pain Drell, I have no qualm with you. Give me the one who killed my brother and you can leave. Give me Shepard."

"Your brother tried to kill Shepard." Thane says faintly through the pain.

"Only out of self defense, the human fired first."

"That's not what I witnessed."

Thane's response is met with a right hook. "Have it your way assassin, in the end your resistance won't matter. Monster will pull the information straight from your mind if necessary."

Mentally Thane prays to Arashu, goddess of motherhood and protection, for the strength to protect his Siha from these men. He then prays to Kalihira, goddess of oceans and the afterlife, asking her for a quick, clean death and safe passage to the after life. So lost in his meditations was he that he failed to notice Vox retuning until the rattle of chains catches his attention. Weakly he looks up and watches the Batarian drag in a humanoid creature, with a long thick chain attached to a wide metal collar. Thane can only assume this is Monster.

Monster is not what he is expecting, the first thing he notices is the height, or lack thereof as Monster stands barely 5 feet and looks half starved. He easily makes out the gender, based upon the hips and small bust as female. Her skin is a deep blue similar to an Asari, but it has the sheen and texture of a Turian. Her head has a human shape, one mouth, one nose and two eyes, but that's where the similarities end as she has the head tendrils of a Turian, but the molted coloration of Asari. He cannot see her hands because of the metal sleeve they are bound in which completely encase her hands up to her elbows. Her slender legs and small bare feet look human. Thane finds himself wondering what this creature is.

Vox takes the chain from Alak and tugs sharply, causing Monster to stumble and fall. She uses her confined hands to break her fall, but hits herself in the face in the process.

"Stand up you stupid thing!" Vox harshly demands. Monster struggles, to obey quickly, causing Vox to pull the chain again. Monster stumbles again but did not fall.

"You see this Drell over here?" Vox asks, pointing at his prisoner. Monster quickly glances at Thane and pulls her eyes back to her feet, nodding her head.

"He's got information I want about a human names Shepard. I want to know where Shepard is. You get me that intel like a good little animal and you'll get table scraps tonight. Understand?"

Again Monster nods.

Vox uses his Omni-Tool to unlock Monster's restraints, freeing her hands. She hesitates a moment, watching her three digit hands clenching and unclenching, knuckles popping in response.

"Don't just stand there, idiot! Get to work!" Vox barks, causing Monster to cringe and shy away from him and towards Thane. Once she is standing in front of him she looks up at him. He is taken back by her eyes, her Krogan eyes. But they are not red like other Krogan; they are blue like Grunt's. Again he finds himself wondering what this creature is. She seems to be a mix of so many that it is possible she is a new race. She reaches out to cup his face with her Turian hands and he finds himself pulling back.

"Stop!" a Salarian snaps, bursting into the room. Monster cringes and sits in a small ball on the floor at Thane's feet.

"What is the meaning of this Dax?" Vox demands.

"He's a biotic. We've never used Monster against another biotic. I can't predict what will happen without testing."

Vox explodes into action, grabbing Dax by the throat "Then today we will find out." He growls. "Get on with it!" he shouts at Monster, tossing the slender Salarian aside.

Monster slowly gets to her feet and cups Thane's face, forcing him to look into her strange blue Krogan eyes as they flash to a solid black and dark energy surround them. He has time to gasp before he feels her in his mind, searching through his memories. He throws up barriers and lashes out mentally, trying to driver her from his mind, only to find himself in hers. He hears her gasp softly when she becomes aware of his presence.

In the span of a heartbeat he has lived her entire life; her memories are like his, her life experiences are burned into his mind as if he lived them. He knows the pain she has suffered at their hands, the experiments the Salarian has subjected her to. He knows the people she's been forced to break, the minds she's had to destroy in order to appease her masters. Through her he learns the true meaning of despair and pain. She has no memories of a time before these men, nor has she known any name other than Monster.

In his mind she becomes him, tasting the freedom to go wherever, whenever. She finds memories of his wife, Irikah and learns about love and beauty. She sees memories of Kolyat, his son, and learns about joy and responsibility. She then finds memories of those he worked with when fighting the Collectors and learns about hope and friendship. His entire life is open for her to explore despite his best efforts to the contrary. Finally she finds Shepard.

"Siha." Her lips whisper softly. Her hands tremble as her black eyes change back to her strange Krogan blue.

"No." he breaths.

"Well?" Vox demands.

"No find." She lies, her eyes still locked with Thane's, he knows she lying and he knows the price she will pay for her failure.

"What do you mean you couldn't find Shepard!" Vox shouts, grabbing Monster and throwing her across the room. There is a loud thud as her delicate frame hits the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

"Strong mind." She protests, while cringing from the furious Batarian. Helpless, Thane watches as Vox and Alak beat this frail slip of a girl with fists and feet, her cries and whimpers filling the small room.