The door opened, and the merc was standing there, just like in the game. Shepard and everyone else approached slowly, and as soon as he got off the radio Shepard spoke.
"Turn around, slowly." The merc turned around.
"Fuck."
"Do you know where the assassin is?" Shepard asked.
"Look buddy, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." Shepard grabbed him by the neck.
"Look, I'm not here to deal with your bullshit, tell us what you need to know or I'll throw you out the building!" Shepard shouted angrily, he relaxed his grip just a bit so the merc could speak freely.
"Fine fine, we think he's in the tower under construction, but we don't know where."
"Leave now, I don't think getting shot was on your job interview, was it?"
"I'm going." The merc left down the elevator we used.
No one said anything as we walked into the room where Nassana demands a report. There was a huge, one sided skirmish. We absolutely and utterly destroyed them. The resistance was almost laughable but I realized it wasn't crappy security, but in reality we were so ridiculously good that nothing even compared to us. We walked right past the room with the other three Salarians, pity, but oh well.
"Report, anyone report!"
"Sorry Nassana, their all dead."
"Fuck!" She shut down the comms after that.
"I think she needs to bulk up her security." Zaeed commented.
"Nah, we're just THAT good." I smirked.
We walked up, and out to the outside part of the mission. I was laying back and sniping them while everyone else was causing a distraction, it reminded me of the fighting in WW2 where there would always be a sniper that would pick someone off, or so I've seen in some of the books. Then we got to the actual bridge part, and the fighting got a whole lot more fierce. The drones overhead had us pinned down.
"Tom, get those drones the hell of our back!" Shepard shouted.
"I got it!" I started rapidly breaching firewalls, stopping only to fire an incinerate at an Asari commando. I hacked them both simultaneously and set them to self destruct, removing the advantage the mercs had.
"The drones are gone, open fire!" I shouted, laying covering fire down to allow them to get back into the fight. Shepard started picking the mercs off, one by one, and Jack used shock wave immediately to disrupt them. After that battle we ventured to the end where the elevator was. Even though there was another Asari commando there we tore her to shreds with bullets almost immediately. We entered the elevator, pushing for the penthouse.
...
The door opened, there was Nassana, with so many guards I think we'd have trouble actually fighting them.
"Wait! Before you kill me, just tell me who you work for."
"Oh no one, I was just taking a stroll into your office to meet you." Shepard said sarcastically. Then the vent noises were heard. Nassana, paranoid sent for the guards to check the other entrances.
"...And you, stay put." She said commandingly, despite her not holding any power here that I knew of.
I watched Thane's expert skills as he took out all of the guards without a sidearm, stealing one instead of having one, and then executing Nassana, textbook perfect. He preyed for a little bit, and Shepard surprisingly stayed quiet the whole time, I'm kind of glad he did though, I think it was offensive if you actually did that in real life when a Christian was in prayer. Ugh, why do I keep thinking that? This IS real life, just a parallel dimension that is shockingly familiar to a video game.
I tuned out when Thane actually talked, Jack wanted to ask me something.
"Yeah?" Why now of all things?
"How the hell do you handle that big sniper rifle? I can't work any gun besides a pistol and sub-machine gun, ever, I find those bigger guns too heavy to use, and they take up space on my back, and it weighs me down."
"Well, we're all are good in different things, I don't understand how you do biotics, but its completely natural to me when it comes to sniping and hacking and the like.
"Yeah, I get that, biotics are natural to me too, just I don't understand how you and Shepard can carry such big weapons with no problems, you guys aren't particularly ripped either." She better not hope Shepard heard that, shots were just fired, bang bang.
"Shut up Jack! The only reason you win every single test in strength is because you use biotics." She smirked.
"Alright, enough yabbering, we need to get back to the Normandy before more mercs arrive." Shepard ordered.
...
"So, Tom did that assassin finally beat you in terms of stealth?" Jacob asked, I was currently dropping off my weapons in the armory.
"Of course not! I have to admit he has some serious martial art skills, but I beat him in terms of stealth and technical wizardry."
"You'd beat anyone in tech skills, you're the best hacker I've ever seen, makes me wonder how you do all of that, it's easy when you get to know it right?"
"It took me a while, but I got good after a lot of jobs, but that's enough talk for now, I'd better be getting back to the bridge."
...
I sat down again, getting comfortable with the ship systems again, it was like a small vacation for myself. Thane was always a cool character, and his biotics were spot on, I wish I was a little more dedicated though, my physical body left a lot to be desired, and I could barely throw a decent punch, I was much better when I had all my toys, which sucks if I was caught unarmed. I didn't notice Shepard walk into the bridge.
"Hey Tom, you said you wanted to talk to me?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, preferably in your cabin."
"Come up then, you have a bit to talk about."
The elevator ride to the cabin was quick, and didn't leave me much time to think about. Vincent had somehow gotten out of jail, and had built up a little reputation, and somehow he had information on me, and I could NOT let that be told to anyone, luckily the police got little out of the interrogation, since at the time all he had was a poor description of my face.
I walked into Shepard's office. Good thing all the bugs were disabled, I couldn't be sure all the time on the bridge, although I was pretty sure.
"So, something on your mind?" Shepard asked
"Yeah, the only merc boss(If you could call him that) I let live has information on me, I can't let him live, he's the only loose end that I have, I can't have him talking, I have no idea how he got more information on me after he got out of prison, but he does, and if he speaks my cover is blown, in fact I'm surprised he hasn't spoken yet, I wasn't really friendly with him."
"Alright, when we have time I'll set a course for where exactly?"
"The same place I was recruited at, Earth. I believe he's still at his same hideout, but I bet security is probably much much better now then before."
"Alright, but I just got a priority call from the Illusive man, so not now, thanks for the talk Tom."
"It's nice getting things off your back instead of just having them nagging at you all the time." I said as we both went back down the elevator to the CIC.
The elevator stopped at the CIC and we both got out. I already knew what would happen, we would be called to hit the Collector ship, I hope those security measures I installed in the Normandy hold up against the Collector attack. What am I thinking? That is Reaper technology, I doubt my security will last more then a second, because of how sophisticated they are, EDI even mentions it in the game.
"So, what problems do you have?" Joker asked.
I prepared a snarky remark, but then the coordinates the Illusive man sends popped up on my console.
"Never mind, we got stuff to do." Joker said busily.
"Joker you got the coordinates?" Shepard asked.
"Yes Shepard, it's actually close to where we're at, we should be there in 1 hour and 30 minutes."
"Alright, Tom grab your gear, Thane and Grunt are coming with us."
I walked out of the armory, fully geared up. That actually reminded me. Why are we doing this mission now? I clearly remember doing the collector ship after 5 missions, not 3 or however many we've done after horizon I can barely remember. Small changes I guess, my information was getting far less spot on, and more vague. I knew stuff, but it would be less reliable then before, I better be careful in what I disrupt, but screw canon, I can do what I want to make this a better and easier fight for Shepard.
I waited for the elevator to go down, stopping at the crew deck, where Thane got on, and then Grunt got on in engineering. We walked out of the elevator and into the cargo bay, where Shepard was with the shuttle.
"Everyone in, this is a time sensitive mission, so don't dawdle." Shepard said.
We got in and the shuttle departed, going to the creepy Collector ship. We exited the shuttle, everyone had a helmet. I looked around, it looked more realistic, which equated to much more creepy, I was honestly creeped out, despite knowing we weren't going to be ambushed, or so I hope.
"Anyone even a little creeped out?" I asked.
"I just find this design weird, and probably inefficient, but don't quote me on that." Shepard said.
"I find it a little odd." Thane said.
We walked forward, seeing the pods, okay things like that were borderline repulsive now. It was ok in the games, but just ok. Now it was actually disgusting, I'm glad they aren't being turned into crazy aliens like in the hollywood movies.
"Shepard I detect no signs of life in those pods." EDI said.
"The victims must of died when the ship lost power." I pointed out.
"That's a shame, I was actually planning on trying to save some people." Man, Thane is a saint, in the vigilante way.
"Nothing we can do for them now, lets move."
As soon as we got to the human remains I had to repress the urge to puke, ok now it was really disgusting, especially in real life here where the graphics are too real sometimes. I've killed people, but I don't delight in doing so, it's just because they're in my way, or they're just generally bad, but that's my limit, the Reapers are absolutely brutal. they're limit is Human fucking soup, this is an abomination.
"Ugh, that is disgusting." I couldn't help but say that.
"It is a little repulsive." Shepard said, keeping the tough guy facade.
"I would prefer we move on." Thane suggested.
"Please, what's all that equipment over here?" Shepard asked.
I guess I was the tech guy here, I got my Omni-tool out and scanned it.
"They were experimenting on their own kind." I said.
"Why?" Shepard asked.
"They wanted to see the differences between Humans and themselves, oh my." Pro acting skills engaged.
"What is it?"
I feigned surprise "if the data here is correct, these Collectors are husked versions of the protheans." Stealing dialogue was fun.
"This is horrific, these things are the empty shells of an entire race, killing them is a mercy." Thane Observed.
"The Reapers are more brutal than we thought, keep moving, I don't like that we haven't been attacked once yet, move on." Shepard commanded.