Standard Disclaimers: I own none of the characters nor Mass Effect
Red and pink light. Shadows and sound. While the VIP area of the Afterlife was clearly a part of the club, sharing theme, music and that garish central display vid, it was distinctly different from the other two areas. This was a place where only the invited came, exclusive and catering to certain expectations based on that. There was no upper level, no place for people like Thane to loom or watch. There were alcoves set along the side with lounging areas instead. People who had sought out privacy often sought it out to speak about things. Here, they'd be allowed that with a clear line of sight on others who might approach.
There were still dancers and dancing, a bar tucked along side. Thane found the darkest corner with the best view and his shoulders hunched casually as he took it. Just watching the dancers like a good quarter of the males in here. Nothing more.
The dance floor. It was a good place to start, or at least as good as any. Thane himself would have gone for a drink first but Shepard apparently had decided that being visible was more important than seeming suave. The drell watched her approach an enthusiastic asari woman (another good choice) and begin to dance.
The drell truly hoped that Shepard had more up her sleeve than that.
Not that it wasn't somehow satisfying to watch, if only on a purely ironic level. This was a woman who hurled herself over barriers with almost breath taking grace, traded out and reloaded weapons with heartbreaking efficiency, and she either didn't trust herself to freely move to the music or she actually did dance like a rhythmically challenged elcor.
It was almost … cute.
He walked to the bar after a few moments. There was no need to stand out by not having a drink in hand, especially since he didn't need to worry about encumbering an aim just yet. Shepard stepped away from her dance partner after the song ended, giving a jaunty wave and a broad grin as her thanks. She began to thread her way through the dance floor and Thane, like the opposite point on a compass, moved to subtly to anticipate her path.
A knot of activity caught his attention at almost the same time it caught Shepard's. A club dancer, dressed in the dark glittering red of fabric and paint, was gesturing rather angrily at a turian. Thane didn't hear what was being said. He didn't have to. The turian's sneer was plain enough and he was gesturing his intentions.
Shepard's intentions were displayed in the straight-forward way she angled herself into their conversation, unapologetic and authoritative. It was in the set to her shoulders and the subtle shifting of her weight. Ready. Professionally and fiercely ready, despite the blandness of her expression. Of course, that didn't mean that the turian was smart enough to see it.
The drell didn't close in but he did scan the crowd. Shepard could take the turian, he wasn't concerned about that in the slightest. As long as there was no ganging up, he didn't expect her to even be touched in return. However, she was making a scene. It would be interesting to see who was paying attention to that.
In the end, the turian was on the ground, the dancer was appreciative and Shepard had not even broken a sweat.
Also, Thane was no longer the only person watching the Commander.
Morinth. If there'd been any doubt about her identity, there was none about how she moved. The tall asari was dressed in black but it wasn't the coloring that let her cross from one side of the room to the other so unobtrusively, it was a predator's instinct for using the cover of her surroundings. She didn't walk; she flowed, quick and subtle. She even plotted, planning it so that when Shepard passed by a certain pillar, the asari was already waiting there, languid and mysterious. Thane, three yards away, around the pillar on the right, had to admit he was somewhat impressed.
He had also noticed the resemblance between the Justicar and her criminal target. Suddenly Samara's investment in this situation seemed all too clear. He'd acknowledge the pang of empathy that fact inspired later.
Morinth took her prey to a table, off to the side and isolated. There she leaned back against her seat, one arm spread out along the top of the booth and watched Shepard while they talked.
They talked.
Thane watched.
He remained steady though he had to admit there was something inherently disconnecting about the situation. It was like seeing the targeting dot of a rifle on someone else's forehead, to watch Morinth regarding Shepard. To know that death was being contemplated. He was accustomed to contemplating it himself, of course, but to see the unfolding of it, the anticipation of it, in another...
To see a targeting dot on another's forehead.
Irikah. Again.
A flash of scarlet and blue near one of the entrances. Samara, it seemed, had either gotten impatient, gotten wise, or had assumed Shepard's success. To give her credit, the Justicar faded back into the crowd almost immediately, putting no pressure on the table. Good.
They hadn't been talking long when Morinth stood up, reaching out a hand to Shepard. The Commander had presented herself well, then. He wasn't surprised. The two women walked together, still talking as they went. It was very easy for Thane to slip out the door first. He was eighty percent sure that there'd be a cab to another neighborhood involved, and he wanted to make sure he'd be in a position to get one as well.
The cab driver he got was a portly woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties. Brown hair had likely had highlights in her youth but time inside a station and away from any sun had dimmed it to dun-colored blandness, just as any prettiness to her face had been long ago ground away by experience.
She did offer Thane a perfunctory smile, dismissive as it was quick, as he stepped into the vehicle and shut the door behind him. The model was at least twenty years old, the bullet resistant plastic that separated cabby from passenger yellowed with time. The springs in the seats creaked as he leaned forward towards the internal comm. system that would relay his voice to her. "That cab there, with the asari and human getting in? I need you to follow them."
She looked at him via her rear-view, skepticism written all over her face and in the rolling of her eyes. "Really? That's what you want?" He reached into his jacket and she straightened instantly. Fear for what he might be drawing, fear that was not a hypothetical but clearly experience based. "I'll do it! Don't get your undies in a bunch! Following we can do."
"It is what I want," he confirmed gently and slid several double-digit credits into the payment slot. "Please."
The cabby slowly relaxed as she watched the scanned credits tally up on her screen. She dropped her hand and began to put the battered vehicle into gear. "Hell," she said in relief and then smirked, catching her breath. They pulled into traffic a couple car lengths behind Shepard's cab.
Thane settled back but kept his eyes on the other car.
Moments passed in silence but some things were bound even to raise an omega cabby's curiosity, "So, no offense but a girl's got to ask. Why are you following them?" She waved a hand, "Feel free to lie if you like, if, you know…. You'd have to kill me for telling me the truth."
"She is my girlfriend. The asari is trouble. I want to make sure nothing happens," Thane lied very well when needed, and this wasn't even a deception far from the truth.
"Bad luck," the cabby noted. "Women. Can't trust a one of us can you?" She flashed a bright grin his way. If it hadn't been for the slightly yellowed teeth, it would have matched the mischief in her eyes and perhaps even been attractive. She turned back to the road. "Tell you what. If you've got about four more of those bills you just slipped me? I can make things much easier on you."
"I'm listening," the drell said, cocking his head to the side.
"Money first, handsome," she said firmly, eyes flicking back to the mirror.
One, two, through the slot. Thane held up the third and fourth bill to the plastic wall, incentive visible.
The cabby smiled yet again and leaned forward almost lazily to her dashboard. She flicked a switch, pressed a couple buttons and touched the receiver at her ear, "Hey, Benny, is that you in Sixty-Two out there?"
Thane raised his brows. She kept the connection open, letting him hear at least her side of the conversation.
"Yeah, tell me about it," she snorted, "Where are you heading anyway?"
They turned now as the cabby nodded and went on, "Damn. Wish I could afford that." She laughed, "No kidding! Hey, if my body got me gifts like that, I wouldn't be turning them down either. Have you /seen/ the view from one of those places?"
Signals were apparently optional. She didn't use a one as she pulled them into a higher lane of traffic, gaining the blare of outraged horns as a result. Thane looked to his right , to where Morinth and Shepard's cab was getting smaller in their view. Smaller but not disappeared, "Yeah. Well. Lookit," the cabby's voice was a little more serious, "Do me a favor and take them the long route? Oh, come on. Give them time enough and you might get a show out of it, right?" She looked up and gave him an apologetic twist of her features. Another moment and she must have gained Benny's cooperation for she straightened up, "Ah, Benny. You are a prince. Oi, and holler at me if they ask to go somewhere else, right? Yeah, I'll tell you why later. Honest. Thanks, darling." She tapped the receiver at her ear again, disconnecting the call.
Thane fed the last two bills to the slot and the cabby rolled her shoulders back, raising her chin in smug self-satisfaction. "Blue Digit Cabs, we do our very best," she quoted the advertising slogan sarcastically, grinning again.
"Let me know where I can send in my feedback for great service," Thane returned gravely.
They pulled up to a towering apartment building not long after and the cabby threw the car in park. Thane paid what the meter said he owed and stepped out. The woman leaned over the seats to call out the window, "Benny took them through Gatesville. You've got maybe five to ten minutes before they show up, depending. Make sure you take that asari by surprise, too. Some of them can be mean!"
"Thank you," Thane said, "Though, I hope it won't come to that."
"Yeah, yeah. Let me guess, you just want to be included? Men!" she rolled her eyes again and then pulled away before he could answer.
That was the problem with paying off people with large sums of money. People remembered you. It left a very big footprint that could be easily followed, the type he normally would not have allowed to happen. However, it was a trade off.
He now had five minutes to familiarize himself with the area and plan, and that was five minutes he had not had before.. He walked into the lobby and crossed over to the directory of the inhabitants that had been so thoughtfully provided.
Five minutes should be enough.
Authors Notes:
Sorry this one is a little shorter than it's predecessors. The actual scene in Morinth's apartment is giving me fits, to I thought it would be best to post this up since the finish might be delayed a bit while I hack it out. Thanks again to those leaving reviews that aren't logged in - I really do appreciate that you took the time to let me know what you thought! Those who did log in - thanks again to you as well :)