The tower stood before them, bathed in the last fleeting rays of the sun, and Shepard found her eyes drawn to the penthouse where Thane's target was hiding. It seemed almost impossibly far, and she felt the worry slip into her bones at the thought of all that lay between her and her destination.
"Don't linger too long," Seryna shouted, her voice almost lost over the whine of the transport's engines. "They'll be here to greet you soon enough."
Shepard reached up and shut the door, disregarding the Asari's empty wish of good luck. As far as Seryna was concerned they were going in there simply to draw fire so Thane could reach Nassana faster, but Shepard had other ideas. She was going to get there first.
The transport lifted high into the clear sky, and Shepard started towards the entrance, gunshots catching her attention.
A couple of Salarians ran into sight, fleeing desperately from a small troop of mechs that showed neither mercy or restraint, and Shepard could only watch as they shot the first Salarian in the back, his terrified scream muted in an instant.
Without thinking she tore towards them, smashing through the glass door with a few blasts from her submachine gun and unleashing her biotics on the first Mech she spotted, slamming it into the floor then turning her attention to the last few.
She cut them down in seconds with help from Garrus and Kasumi, moving automatically over to the fallen Salarian and scanning him for life signs. He was a lost cause but the other Salarian had made it further, as was evidenced by the trail of bloody footprints.
They found him barely metres away, blood spattered and wheezing out his last breaths, his glassy eyes widening with fear as they approached him.
Shepard raised her hands in a bid to reassure him then crouched at his side and administered a shot of medi-gel, her eyes never leaving his as she waited for the rattle of his breathing to ease.
"Easy there, I'm here to help," Shepard murmured, helping him into a sitting position then sitting back on her heels. "Who did this to you? And why?"
"We're just night workers. Nassana sent them after us. She sent the mechs to round us up but we didn't hear…" The Salarian coughed, his slight frame convulsing with the effort. "They started shooting. We were too slow…it was horrible, everyone screaming. They just wanted us out of the way."
Seryna hadn't been particularly complimentary about Nassana, and now that the evidence was here before her eyes, she had to agree that perhaps she had fallen beyond redemption since the last time Shepard had met her.
"We'll send help as soon as we can," Shepard said, climbing to her feet and preparing to move off. "Think you can hang on?"
"I...I think so," he spluttered, reaching one of his hands out as Shepard turned to leave. "Wait! Wait, please!"
His distress called Shepard back, and she crouched back down at his side as another cough shook his body. She would have to call for help sooner than she liked and damn the consequences.
"It's alright, I'm still here. What is it?"
"There are other workers in there, my friends. Can you help them, please?"
Shepard frowned, glancing up at Garrus as she got slowly to her feet. Things were getting more complicated by the second.
"We'll do our best," she promised, testing the weight of her words for truth and hoping there was some substance to them.
This time she didn't turn back, heading into the shadows and using her omni-tool to send a message that she knew would bring more trouble down on them, even with her precaution of routing it through Liara. If she was right about the Asari security forces they had a little under ten minutes before they arrived and found the mess she was about to create.
"Kasumi, what's the quickest way up to the penthouse?" Shepard asked, calling up a schematic of the towers and leaning into the pool of flickering orange light it created.
"The quickest way or the easiest way?" the thief asked, her fingers dancing through the map as she weighed up their options.
"Quickest, I want to be the one waiting for the assassin when he gets there."
"The quickest way would be up this tower and over the bridge here; it will leave us exposed until we get over it though. Once we're in, it shouldn't be a problem," Kasumi said, pointing out the bridge between their tower and Nassana's.
"And is Krios likely to have taken the same path?" Shepard asked, examining the map carefully and plotting their path through the dark twine of corridors.
"I'd guess so – unless he knows something we don't. He's moving on his own though so he'll be faster. He's also likely to be better at sneaking than you are. No offence, Shep."
"None taken. Come on, we'd better get moving."
She took her pistol out and brought up her barriers in one swift movement, forcing her sluggish legs into a run.
"Let's see if you can still keep up, Vakarian. You can even have a head start if you like."
"How about we let the ladies go first," Garrus said politely. "Kasumi?"
Shepard bit back a laugh then opened the door, waiting for Kasumi to go through before shoving Garrus out of the way and sprinting down the corridor towards the first group of mercs.
She was crouched in cover when she heard them, their voices echoing through the dust filled air.
"Hey – I think he went in here."
"Well, go get him."
"You go."
"Get your ass in there, Nassana's not paying you to stand around."
"Fine…but I…"
Muffled thuds rang through the sudden silence and Shepard sprang towards them, bolting out of the darkness straight into the path of a slew of Eclipse troopers who opened fire without hesitation, banishing any element of surprise.
Chaos erupted, bullets flying and glass smashing in a cascade of sound that made Shepard curse under her breath. There was no way Krios wouldn't have heard that and she gave up trying to sneak, lifting a Vanguard and throwing her through the remaining panes of glass before unleashing a hail of submachine gun fire on her.
"You know, I think Kasumi might have a point," Garrus said, stepping gingerly over the shards of glass as they cleared the room.
Irritation was starting to prickle at the back of her neck, anger starting to pulse through her bloodstream, twined with the sickly grasp of fear. She could still do this, she had to.
"Hey, Shep?"
"What, we don't have…"
"There's a locked door here, sounds like someone's inside," Kasumi said, unable to resist the opportunity. She'd hacked through before Shepard even had a chance to respond, and as the door opened, force of habit made her draw her pistol at whatever it contained.
Three Salarians stood cowering before her, their hands raised in surrender.
"Please don't kill us! We'll go, we'll go!"
"Hey look, they're not Eclipse," one of them murmured, stepping forwards. "You're here to help us…right?"
"It's one reason I'm here," Shepard admitted, forcing herself to focus on them. "Come out, it should be safe."
"Thank you, we are in your debt," the first Salarian said, giving her a small bow.
"Look, maybe you can help me, I'm looking for someone. Not a merc – he's on his own."
"Well, whoever sealed us in here," one of the Salarians burst out before being interrupted by one of the others.
"When he found us, I thought we were dead. But he just closed the door and locked us in."
It was unlikely that there was anyone else in the building, and Shepard couldn't help but turn this over in her mind. This small act of mercy that seemed somehow incongruous for a cold blooded killer. She had to find him.
"So our assassin has a conscience, hmm?" Garrus murmured, amusement colouring his voice.
Shepard ignored him, pulling out her pistol and reloading. "You should head for the lower levels, help is on the way. I don't suppose you know a quick way up the tower?"
"Cargo elevator is the only way up."
"Then that's where we're going. Garrus, Kasumi."
The Salarians started past them, the last one pausing next to her. "Thank you. And tell your assassin to aim for her head…'cause she doesn't have a heart."
My assassin, she thought. Not yet.
The elevator reached its destination with a gentle thud, the doors opening out onto utter silence. A dead merc lay on the floor metres from them, his limbs still twitching.
Wherever Krios was, he couldn't be far away, as this macabre greeting showed.
Shepard led the way, sprinting through the quiet and through another door into a darkened room where she heard a merc's voice echoing from some unknown location. Drawing her pistol she crept closer, listening intently.
"He's all over the place."
There was a slight buzz of static then a reply through his comm.
"What do you mean?"
"We've got reports of him on multiple levels. We think he's travelling through the ducts…"
Using the ducts to move around would give him a distinct advantage, one which she was helpless to counter. That left her with few options.
Shepard burst out of cover and lifted the merc, a yelp of surprise falling half formed from his lips as she fired her pistol to kill him. She couldn't afford to waste another second, and she slammed into another trooper with a wild rage that didn't go unnoticed by Garrus, throwing him across the room to meet his death against what looked like another sealed door.
"Fine, open it, but hurry up," Shepard snapped, staring around the room.
Kasumi shared a look with Garrus then opened the door, unsurprised to find two Salarians inside.
This time one of them raised a gun, and before she could stop herself Shepard sprang at him, twisting the gun easily from his fingers and raising it to aim squarely at his face.
"Look, I don't have time for this."
"Please stop, he's my brother – he's not usually like this, please!" the other Salarian babbled, rushing forwards and pulling his brother back from the barrel of Shepard's gun. "Are...are you the ones who shot the merc?"
Shepard glanced doubtfully at the corpse of the merc beside them, lowering her gun. "That wasn't me, are you sure it wasn't your brother?"
"No, Telon was standing here with me."
The assassin was starting to irritate her. There didn't seem to be any reason for leaving the Salarians alive other than a show of mercy or worse – a calculated distraction.
"What happened exactly?" she asked, nudging the merc with her foot. He hadn't been dead long, she still had a chance.
"The merc found us and shouted at us to move. We panicked, and he shouted more. I thought he was going to kill us…then…his head just exploded. Telon picked up the merc's gun but we were too afraid to leave. Then you showed up."
"I'm looking for someone, probably the someone that killed this merc."
The Salarian looked at his brother, edging in front of him before replying. "Telon thought he saw someone following us, but he's been a bit….on edge. I haven't seen anyone but the mercs."
This was turning into a complete waste of valuable time. "Is the bridge the only way to the penthouse in the other tower?" she asked, checking the gun she'd taken from him.
"From here? Yeah. It won't be easy. Mercs are patrolling the other side. Whatever Nassana's hiding from must be pretty scary."
"Here, take this and get out of here," Shepard said, handing him the pistol. "The lower levels should be clear but watch out for the security forces, they should be here any minute."
"Of course. Telon, get up. And whoever you are – thank you."
Shepard merely nodded, her attention caught by the tinny sound of a voice somewhere outside. It was coming from a comm terminal, and she couldn't resist answering the increasingly urgent requests for information as she sought to wrest control of the situation back from the assassin.
"I'm sorry, this transmission is breaking up, please identify yourself."
"This is Nassana, you ignorant fuck, now what the hell is going on down there?"
Nassana was still alive, perfect.
"I'm afraid your men aren't able to respond, Nassana."
The transmission ended in a flurry of curses and Shepard took off towards the bridge, forcing herself to move faster.
The bridge yawned wide across the chasm, and it wasn't until Shepard set foot on it that she realised how far up they were, shadows gathering in the darkness below. She stepped back, dipping quickly behind the nearest cover as she fought to quell the sudden sensation of tumbling into darkness.
"Shepard?"
The sound of Garrus' voice pulled her back from the sickening twist of memory, and she forced herself to look over the bridge at the second tower. There were mercs all over the place and further up she caught sight of two rocket turrets that would make their life very difficult. As she trailed the scope across the windows she caught a glimpse of a shadow, a wisp of movement that vanished just as soon as she'd seen it.
"Shepard?" Garrus repeated, crouching at her side. "You've seen the rockets?"
Shepard reluctantly dropped the scope and faced Garrus, her chest still constricted by fear. "We'll deal with those when we get closer, come on."
Practise stilled her nerves, adrenaline cleansing her blood of any lingering doubts as she forced herself forwards over the gaping chasm with every last shred of determination.
They worked in perfect unison, Shepard setting a blistering tempo as she drove them through the mercs and onwards until she reached the silence of the second tower. The back of Shepard's neck prickled uncomfortably as she looked up, seeing once again the shadow at the window.
The shadow didn't fire and Shepard realised with a jolt who it was, her omni-tool pinging as she stared up at the shape. It was a message from Liara.
'Asari security forces are on scene. I suggest getting out of there before it becomes a terrorist incident.'
"We have to move NOW," Shepard cried, ignoring the pain in her legs as she drove her traitorous body onwards.
She burst into the penthouse, her finger twitching on the trigger as she squinted against the bronze rays of the sun to find Nassana and her guards very much alive.
Relief flooded through her only to replaced by the certainty that Krios had made it up there first; he'd been faster than her at every turn and she'd been too slow to do anything. Her rebuilt body had failed her- she'd failed herself - and a hard laugh burst from her throat as the bitter truth sank in.
There was only one thing missing – Krios.
The air was stifling as Shepard stepped forwards towards Nassana and she put her gun away. It was useless now.
"Nassana?"
"Shepard? But you're dead?"
"I was."
"And now you're here to kill me."
"Can I?" Garrus muttered. "It would be faster."
Shepard glanced around the room, her heart thrumming in her chest. Krios was with them somewhere, waiting. If he was playing a game, she had no choice but to play along.
"You really are paranoid, aren't you," she said, her gaze shifting round the room to find the heavily armed guards and the vents above them.
"Don't patronize me Shepard," Nassana growled, pointing at Shepard.
"Charming as ever."
"I'm sure you find this all very ironic. First you take care of my sister, and now you're here for me. Well, you made it this far. Now what?"
"You really think I'm here to kill you? If I was you'd be dead by now," Shepard replied, her omni-tool pinging again. The security forces were on their way up. It wouldn't be long now.
"Do you have another reason for destroying my tower? Decimating my security?" Nassana asked as she paced back and forth at the window.
"Actually, yes. I'm looking for someone."
Nassana scoffed. "You expect me to believe that? Just tell me your price and we can make this problem go away."
"It's too late for that, Nassana. You got yourself into this."
"Who the hell gave you the right to play god? I may not be perfect but look at you," Nassana sneered, gesturing at her. "We both kill people for money, what's the difference?"
Shepard watched her, anger burning bright at the presumption. "You kill people because you think they're beneath you, they're in your way. I kill people because they leave me no choice."
A noise above them spooked the guards and Shepard found she could hardly breathe, her gaze drifting back towards the vent.
"You've got a choice. You don't have to do this. I can tell you…what?" Nassana snapped, glaring at the Asari Commando next to her.
"I heard something."
Nassana gave a long suffering sigh. "Check the other entrances."
She turned back to Shepard. "You…stay put."
Then Thane Krios dropped into the room.