„Alright, fan out, pin her down! We'll take her together!"
The squad obeyed Shepard's command, and so did Thane, but contrary to them, he already knew where he needed to go. He had used the last skirmish to discreetly put himself in that place in their formation that would allow him to get to where he needed to be all the while making it look as if he was just striking out and searching aimlessly like everyone else when he was doing anything but.
The others were moving in twos and threes, Thane went alone. Nobody would bet an eye at this, or suspect anything; he'd made a point of establishing that he preferred to roam ahead or behind the main force, stalking the shadows and taking down targets silently. It was a skill Shepard had come to appreciate greatly since Thane had joined his venture, and the Drell applied it once more as he quickly gained distance from the others. He made his way down a flight of stairs, hurried through the backrooms of a cafe and along the railing above the trading center's inner courtyard, three stories below.
With the lower levels of the building flooded with cops as they were, there was really only one escape safe for jumping out of a window, and Thane knew it's exact location. After all, this was where he was supposed to help her escape through.
He stepped over a dead mercenary and rounded the corner into the service corridor, and he could hear someone going to work on the garbage hatch in room 4- 43. She was here already; it seemed Vasir hadn't lost her edge. Not that he'd expected her to, ten years were like nothing to the Asari after all.
Tapping the wall three times to warn her of his coming, Thane hurried to make his way over. The noises from inside stopped, and before he even got to the door, the Spectre stepped out with her rifle raised and aimed square at his chest. But only for a moment.
"Krios, there you are." Relief was visible on her face. "Took you long enough. Come on, help with th-"
He snapped up his pistol and shot her straight between the eyes at point blank. The shot loosened from inside her shields, and she had barely time to look surprised, let alone form a barrier. The wall behind Vasir was sprayed blue and purple with her blood and brains as the dead Asari slumped to the ground, her rifle clattering on the stone.
"Thane to all, ", he spoke into his mic. "I encountered Vasir. She is dead."
There were a few seconds of silence; doubtless, the declaration had to feel somewhat anticlimactic for at least some of the team. Grunt especially would be disappointed.
"Hold position." Shepard. "Everyone converge on Thane. Thane, search her. See if she has the disk on her."
The drell was already on it, and it didn't take him long. He couldn't yet hear the steps of any of the approaching team when he pulled the disk out of one of Vasir's belt pockets.
"Shepard, I've secured the disk."
"Great. Hold position, we'll be with you in a second."
He stepped back and leant against the cool, tiled wall. Explaining Vasir's death to his employer. Things had hotten messy, he'd been left with no choice in order to maintain his cover – which had, in fact, been made clear from the start as priority number one by the Broker's own orders. The loss of assets was to be expected when facing an opponent of the Commander's calibre, albeit Vasir's death would be one hefty blow indeed. Many Spectres occasionally worked with the Broker, but to Thane's knowledge, she'd been the only one willing to work as his enforcer in all but name.
Then again, Thane could hardly claim to know all that much about the Spectres. Finally, hasty bootsteps closed in. Shepard and the inseparable Tali'Zorah rounded the corner, followed up swiftly by Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor. They'd barely come to stand around him when Liara T'Soni arrived, pushing through them all to get to the scene. After sparing a short glance for Vasir's body, she turned to Thane. "Give me the disk." The Asari looked impatient, downright hungry, although she did catch herself after a second. "Please."
The drell handed the item over, and she all but snatched it out of his fingers, losing no time to insert it into the reader she'd pulled out with her other hand. After flicking through display after display full of readings that looked positively arcane to Thane, she turned back to the others. "Sekat did it. I know where the Broker is!"
"Good." Shepard looked less than ecstatic; his mood had been sour ever since they'd set foot into the wrecked shopping center and stepped over the first bodies. "Then let's get there. We end this, and we make that bastard pay."
The Asari hurried off, everyone else hot on her tail. Thane, meanwhile, decided to allow himself a few more moments of quiet, following the others at a relaxed pace. Everything was in place. The only thing left now was for the target to take the bait – something the Drell saw no reason for not to happen. After all, he had played his role well. The guilt weighed heavy on his soul, as it had been doing ever since he had infiltrated Shepard's team; but he would not falter now. He would have to worry about forgiveness later.
Tali, not for the first time, found herself mildly surprised at how easy resisting the urge to fiddle with her fingers these days. John had commented on it once, he had said it showed how she had grown as a person. Perhaps he was right. Probably, even.
She still thought that the fact he was back was at least part of it.
The elevator locked in place and she stepped through the parting doors, taking a moment at EDIs station to announce herself. Of course John had granted her access alongside with Garrus, but she preferred not to barge in. It did not take long until she was granted entry.
The Quarian entered to the sight of her captain at his desk, having turned his chair around to face her, sitting upright with his butt right up against the backrest as if he'd just pulled himself back up from a far less formal sitting position. His features relaxed as he laid eyes on her, but the deep lines in his face were hard to miss.
"You're not looking so happy."
John sighed.
"Is the attack on the Broker worrying you?"
He shook his head and waved it off.
"No. I mean, yes. But no more than any other difficult mission. It's about Liara. She's...not the person I left behind. Which should've been obvious, sure. You all changed, it's been two years. And it's impressive what she's accomplished in that time. Almost unbelievable, even." He hesitated for a moment. "But I'm not sure if some of the ways she's changed are all that healthy."
Tali sat down on the edge of the desk. " I don't think I can imagine what it must have been like, alone with all these criminals. I think Liara did what she had to do, and from the little I've seen, a lot of that probably wasn't very pleasant."
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming her. Wouldn't be here if not for Liara." John stroked the stubble on his chin. "But you didn't come up here to talk about Liara. What's up?"
"I wanted to talk to you." She gathered her courage for a second. "Everything we do is dangerous, but this will be different. We're assaulting the Shadow Broker on their home turf. We've barely spoken the last two days, and I don't want to do this without clearing things up before.
"Clear things up? You make it sound like something bad happened."
"Well, not bad, but...was it really good? I won't lie John, I meant what I said."
"So did I. But?"
"But I'm in this suit. I might never be able to do certain things. And I could never give you what a human could. So...I'd understand it if you said you need someone else."
He stood up and cupped her mask in his hands. "I don't care."
"John, you -"
"No, listen to me. I know you, suit or not, and I don't want anybody else. If I ever get to see behind this mask, I'll be the happiest man alive. But I don't need that to see who you are."
Deeply moved, Tali didn't have words for a while. Eventually she slunk forward and hugged him, her head against his broad chest.
She sighed. "I wish I could kiss you."