The door opened.
A second later Michael burst in, his team at his back, spreading out and guns panning the room...only to lower them as they stared around themselves in surprise.
They were in an office, one supposed to inspire awe and fear for any visitors. The short path before them opened into a wider chamber where the floor rose a few inches, making you feel shorter then those within waiting for you. The main room was more or less round in form, the smooth walls of polished black steel shimmered as it reflected the few white lamps within the room.
The desk dominating the room was raised up even further; the desk was large and black and polished to a mirror shine, ominous for whoever stood below and looked up towards Nassana when she sat on the large leather chair behind. A chair backlit by the lights shining through the glass wall behind...the lights of the city outside, or rather, below the great tower
Yet now...the awe the room was supposed to inspire stemmed from another source.
There were five corpses before the group...and only a solitary living person.
Two Eclipse mercenaries lay right where the office widened, both face down on the ground as they lay with their heads facing the group. The two other mercenaries were in either corner of the window, both slumped up against it, as if they had just sat down for a rest.
The killing of them was in itself not so awe-inspiring...the fact that none of them had even drawn their weapons, however...
The fifth corpse was that of the Asari, the woman lay on her back on top of the desk, her dark dress soaking up her purple blood, her arms crossed over her chest.
It was a long time since Michael had even thought about Nassana, but now that he saw her...he couldn't help but think she looked...older, far more so then a creature supposed to live for a thousand years had any right to look after only two years, at least.
Yet at the same time she looked...relaxed, as if death had eased a great weight from her shoulders.
Michael understood that all too well...
He pulled his gaze away from the woman...she was irrelevant, a loathsome annoyance two years ago and better dead...and focused on the more important thing before him.
Or rather...person.
Michael knew intergalactic etiquette said it was rude to stare, something humans were infamously bad at, but he couldn't help but study the Drell carefully, having never seen a member of the species before.
The man was...shorter then expected. Not Tali, certainly, but short, and though he wasn't exactly slim there was a certain...litheness about him, even while standing still there was the feeling he could just disappear if Michael blinked. The black coat he wore was open at the front, a thin vest underneath open enough to reveal green skin beneath, no armour...just casual wear. It spoke volumes of his abilities.
While he didn't have hair like humans or fringes like Asari or Turians, the Drell's head sported a few sets of symmetrical folds at the top of his head, a head covered in thumb-sized green scales that was his skin. Underneath his chin there were several reddish folds running down to his throat, almost looking like gills, despite the fact that the alien was supposed to descend from an arid planet. His thick lips were moving, muttering something underneath his breath, his large eyes closed as he bowed his head and held his hands together before the dead Asari before him.
It was a...peculiar creature.
Prayer had never been Michael's strong suit, not even when he had been religious, only a few special occasions warranted it. And to see spirituality from an alien...it was peculiar. Michael had never really considered the religions of other races, but here it was, being practised just before him.
A waste of time...
Michael sighed, looking away. "I'm going to assume you're Thane."
There was no answer, the Drell's face remaining lowered as his lips continued to move.
Ah, dedicated to the imaginary thing, how quaint. "I'm also going to assume you can hear me." A slight frown creased the Drell's features at that, but Michael ignored it. "Now, I am Commander Shepard, and I've been looking for you."
A final mutter...and the Drell raised his head, looking back at Michael with his nearly completely black eyes, his voice was a low throaty sound, calm. "Shepard? The hero Spectre? The dead hero? I suppose the rumours are true then..." He lowered his hands, his steps slow and measured as he moved around the table. "...you are back. Question is, what do you wish of me? My expertise is all I offer, and I don't offer it freely, and nowadays, not at all."
"Yeah." Zaeed growled at Michael's back. "Heard you took this job on for free, bad call for any mercenary."
"I'm an assassin, not a mercenary." The Drell retorted, surprisingly not sounding offended.
And slick, didn't really answer why he was doing this... "I need your help, Thane."
"As I said...I do not offer my services any longer." The assassin replied, standing before the desk and calmly looking over at Michael. If he was worried about the armed men at Michael's back he didn't show it. "But since you're Shepard, I must ask...what do you intend to fight?"
Michael offered a smirk at that. "What makes you think we're fighting anything...?"
For the first time there was something akin to humour appearing on the Drell's face, a twitch in the corner of his mouth. "I doubt you came back from the dead to pick flowers, Shepard..."
Behind him Garrus chuckled. "Depends on who he picks them for..."
Garrus... Sighing, Michael desperately hoped Tali couldn't hear anything via the security cameras that seemed to be in every corner of the tower. Rubbing his temples, Michael forced himself to press the issue. "We're hitting the Collectors, they are abducting entire human colonies."
"Come on, Shepard." Jacob snorted. "An assassin wouldn't care."
"On the contrary." The Drell replied, cocking his head to the side. "I have heard of many of these attacks, hundreds of thousands of people, taken? And you intend to stop them?"
Silence, the Drell's brow furrowing as he looked down at the floor between them.
When he looked up his gaze was more...intense. "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega four relay; no ship has succeeded with that."
"Then we'll be the first." Michael replied, straightening, chin up. "I don't plan for this to be a one way trip, we'll go through it, come back, and the Collectors will be no more."
"Low survival odds do not concern me." Thane replied with a shrug, turning away and walking towards the window at the other side of the room. "But you say you will do this; save these people?" He came to a stop in front of the window, head bowed as he looked down at the flickering lights of the city below.
Peculiar... Michael wasn't about to dismiss the Drell's wish to help people because of his profession like Jacob...but there seemed to be something more to the strange behaviour of the assassin. "If not save them, then at least stop any more from being taken."
"Millions of lives in the balance..." It was but a mutter, the Drell's head remaining bowed as he thought it over. Then he raised his head, his voice firming. "I have made the galaxy darker for a long time now, Shepard." He turned, head held high. "I'll gladly help you make it brighter."
Silence.
Then Jacob sighed. "Great..."
"Good." Michael nodded, pleased that it had been so easy. Well...save the fighting through massive numbers of mercenaries part...why can't I ever just walk up to someone and talk to them instead! "In fact, you can help almost right away..." He moved closer to Thane offering his hand.
The assassin took it, giving Michael's hand a shake, and then released it, looking ever so slightly amused. "That was fast, what may I assist you with?"
"We're looking for another person to recruit in our fight with the Collectors." Michael replied with a nod. "An Asari Justicar by the name of Samara." Thane's brow rose. "I'm hoping that with your tracking skills and contacts you would be able to help us find her."
Thane's brow remained high as he spoke, a near chuckle in his voice. "Your first assignment for me is to locate and hire a woman who's code compels her to kill the likes of me..?"
Michael offered a chuckle. "Never said working with me would be easy."
"I can tell it won't be dull..." Thane replied, offering a short bow. "...very well, I shall find her."
8
8
8
Tali found herself a bit puzzled.
The rest of the team had assembled before the docking chamber leading to the Normandy; waiting for the new new members to come with their things. Yet they hadn't had to wait for long before both new additions had arrived; that being so since neither had anything but their clothes and their weapons.
Even to a Quarian that was packing light.
So now all they were doing was waiting for Michael, who wished to talk to Liara one more time before he left. So the team stood there...curiously eyeing the two new additions.
She wasn't entirely sure she understood their motivation to join either...
The assassin's brief explanation, however flowery and poetic, was lacking in facts, no doubt a conscious choice of the man. He was very...mysterious.
Even now, seeing him before her, she wasn't sure where she had him. His clothes were that of a civilian, his manner...so calm and confident, a man in complete control of himself at all times. Yet there was something dark just beneath that, something that she just couldn't pin down or understand...
He was...dangerous.
The Justicar's explanation for joining was even more confusing. Tali herself had been off getting the newest omni-tools from the Illium market for the team...but the way Garrus had explained it the Asari had apparently joined because she didn't want to kill police officers while escaping custody...a custody she could have avoided from the start if she had but left. It had been something about a ship-name...Tali for one didn't understand why the Asari just hadn't left and tried to find the name by some other way and spared herself the hassle of getting into a fight...but considering what Garrus had told her it hadn't seemed to be an option for the Justicar.
That code of hers seems...inflexible.
Tali eyed the Asari with more interest now, curious...and not quite liking what she saw.
The woman was beautiful, and the red armour she wore fit tighter then a glove, making her breasts nearly spill out of her deep cleavage. Because we need another beautiful woman on the team... Tali sighed, feeling...inadequate.
Yet, however inviting the choice of clothing might be...there was something cold and discouraging in her stance. It was so...empty...as if there wasn't enough of a person to fill the void within her flesh. Apparently, Justicars were Justicars for life, and Samara had been one for hundreds of years...but it was odd to think that the profession just might have wiped away who was beneath the title...
The large blue eyes of the woman panned left and right, looking over the group facing her, calm under their scrutiny. It was a cold gaze, deprived of any heat or kindness, judging...Tali shivered.
Then the Asari glanced over to the Drell to her side, her tone haughty. "I must inform you that my code compels me to slay the wicked, which includes you, assassin."
Oh, so we're off to a good start then... Tali snuck a hand behind her back, loosening her shotgun.
"Yet you have not." Thane responded, arms behind his back, not even glancing at the Asari, the man calm made flesh.
"I have sworn an oath to Shepard, an oath I cannot break, his choices are my choices, such as bringing you aboard." There was no disapproval in the Justicar's voice, just calm facts.
It was fascinating that a high representative of Justice and a criminal Assassin could be so...alike.
Thane didn't respond at first, then nodded, once. "I'm glad."
The tiniest bit of confusion in Samara's stance...and then she relaxed. "However, once this task is completed I will be released from this oath."
Silence, the threat – or rather, given their calm demeanour, information –sinking in.
"I doubt that, one way or another, it will be an issue by then." Thane responded, not sounding the least bothered.
Silence.
And then the Asari bowed her head, once. "True."
Next to Tali, Garrus leant closer, his voice a whisper. "Friendly pair, aren't they?"
"Pair of arch-enemies, maybe." Tali snorted. "I doubt..."
Michael.
Her voice died as she caught sight of the man marching forth to stop next to the new members of the team. Tali felt nervous at the mere sight of him, knowing what she would have to do. No that it was dangerous, or even meant anything. Well...no, it means nothing... Yet...she felt nervous, despite it being nothing to worry about, yes, nothing at all...
"Right, I just got a call from the Normandy, so we're in a bit of a rush and introductions will have to be made on the ship, I'm afraid." Michael said, a hint of tension in his stance. "So everybody in." He grinned at them, but the tension didn't escape Tali's notice even as he waved at them to move. "Mush!"
8
8
8
Michael glanced up from his reading, looking over at the aquarium in his cabin.
It was surprisingly soothing...
No.
With a grunt he returned to his reading, knowing it would probably do no good. There wasn't much information about the Collectors, and none on the interior of their ships! Nor had anyone ever really tested their capabilities in a space battle. But considering they worked for the Reapers...Michael was willing to assume the worst.
Which made the Illusive man's call so...strange. Michael had a hard time imagining a Turian patrol taking out, never mind crippling, a Collector cruiser. Yet that's what the call said...the Turians were destroyed, but their last logs showed the Collector vessel floating dead in space, giving no signs of life.
Yet strange or not Michael had to agree with the man, such an opportunity couldn't be wasted, they had to investigate and find out anything they could about the Collectors, particularly how they travelled through the Omega four relay.
He didn't have to like it though...
There's too many unknowns, too little information, I don't even know how many warriors they might have on the ship...
So he read what sparse information there was, read it over and over again...knowing it would probably be of little use. But safety came before comfort...and Michael intended to keep everyone in one piece.
He owed them that.
Sighing, he returned to reading the information. Mordin had checked the exoskeleton of one of the fallen creatures on Horizon and it seemed it acted as a form of armour that was remarkable in its ability to survive weapon's fire, something the Salarian found peculiar since natural evolution shouldn't-
The door opened.
Grateful for a break, Michael looked up...and blinked, shocked at what he saw. His voice came out as a croak. "Tali...?" He cleared his throat. "I...I didn't expect you to come up here."
"I know." The Quarian replied, her hands nervously fiddling with one another before her as with a cocked head she looked back at him where he sat on his bed. She didn't quite enter the main room, staying at the top of the stairs. "Well, I didn't know, I suspected, assumed, I guess, considering...you know."
Huh?
"You're confused, of course you're confused, and you know I can see that plain as day. Not that I was looking...what I meant to say was that I had something to say, yes."
Huh!
"But I don't want you to take it the wrong way, or rather, what you would think as the right way, but too right, not just a little right."
Michael blinked, then smiled. It was nice to hear Tali like this, he didn't think it would ever happen again... "Tali, you're babbling."
"I know that!" The Quarian snapped, anger in her voice, then shook her head. "Don't you think I know that? I know when I'm rambling, because that's when I speak a lot and my mouth goes all dry with the talking and I don't seem able to stop myself. Which is really annoying, but that's not what I'm here for and...stop looking so amused!" Another shake of her head, irritated. "I just wanted to say something and I don't want you to make too much of it."
"I'm..." Michael hesitated, a lump in his throat and worry in his belly as he suddenly feared what would happen. "...listening."
"It's just that...with when you helped Miranda and all..." Tali's hands closed around one another, halting the fiddling...only for her feet to nervously start rubbing against one another. "...it was very you. Well, I meant how you did it, not as in helping, a lot of people help others, not willing to risk their lives, true, but still..." A deep breath. "I mean that you did more than...you're still in control and step up to shield and...such..." The Quarian looked away, muttering something under her breath. "What I meant was...I wouldn't mind calling you Michael again...if that's okay?"
Silence.
Michael blinked and swallowed, the lump in his throat and the worry in his stomach evaporating, becoming replaced by...joy. His voice wavered a little. "I...would like that."
"Good...I...good." Tali nodded, forcing her legs apart and away from one another...and instantly her hands started to fiddle with one another again. "It doesn't really mean anything, I mean, it's just to make things easier, communications and such, can't be rude and..." A loud breath of exasperation. "...and stop grinning!"
Michael blinked, hand coming up to brush his jaw. "Am I? Oh...didn't realise...sorry."
"You're not sorry, I can see it!" The Quarian managed to detach her right hand to jab an accusing finger Michael's way.
The joy mixed with amusement...and Michael's grin grew wider. "Sorry."
"You're not...argh...I told you, this doesn't mean anything, don't start thinking it does..." A sigh...Tali's shoulders slumping, voice filled with frustration. "...and you are..." Another sigh."...great. Stop that, I told you...I...it...nothing, okay?"
Michael managed to rein in his grin...only to flash her the smile she hated as he felt something akin to butterflies in his belly. "Sure."
"You're not...!" Tali's hand once more shot up to jab a finger at him...only for it to waver as she lowered her hand, it instantly starting to fiddle with the other as they came close. "I knew this was a bad idea...you can't think that...I'm not saying that..."
And Michael's smile endured, the joy forcing it to remain on his face until it started to hurt.
Tali tensed, looking as if she was trying to speak, hands closing into fists...
Only for her to whirl round and march away, her parting word a frustrated growl. "Men!"
Michael looked after her long after the door closed behind her, the smile unwilling to disappear.
Then he sighed, tossed aside his electronic reader, eased back onto the bed, hands behind his head...and just relished in the joy, a feeling he hadn't felt since before he died.
Finally, good news...
8
8
8
Thanks to Abydos Jackson for her caring.