Shepard's POV

"I'm telling you, we can't trust him," Ashley said as the group of five moved around Chora's Den to make sure there were no enemies left.

"I haven't seen him do anything suspicious," Garrus commented.

Ashley huffed, "That's because you haven't been around. He's hiding something!"

"I agree with you that he's hiding something, Chief, "Kaiden said, "But that doesn't mean we can't trust him."

"We'll keep an eye on him," I said as I started to the back of the bar with my rifle ready, "Now focus, we're here for Fist."

In silence I led them into a back storage area. It was empty and the only other door was locked down. With a sigh I stowed my rifle and approached the door, already starting to remotely hack the systems. As streams of code showed up I kept my eyes moving. I had to find the right section of the coding that I need to compromise in order to end the lock-down. The moment I saw the telltale gap in one of the lines of repeating code I executed the hack. The hologram on the door turned from red to orange. It was still locked. I cursed under my breath. I hated picking locks like this.

"Mind if I give it a try, Commander?" Kaiden asked.

I glanced over my shoulder at him and then stepped aside and motioned to the door. "It's all your L.T."

I watched as Kaiden initiated the lock picking program. It was similar to picking a mechanical lock. The only difference was you could see the tumblers. Unfortunately, they were moving and you only had a limited time to get it done before it would go into lock-down again. I watched Kaiden hold his Omni-tool up to the holograpic panel and three rings of orange blocks spread out around his hand and started spinning. His fingers moved too fast for me to follow as they 'slid' the tumblers into place until it flashed green and opened.

"Impressive," Garrus commented, "I thought having all those fingers would get in the way of picking a lock with any finesse."

"Save it," I whispered as I grabbed my rifle once more and moved through the door. I waited for a moment before stepping into the open with my rifle aimed. Fist was standing behind his desk and was looking at me wildly.

"You won't take me!" He yelled as he activated two hidden turrets on either side of the room. I dove into cover behind a partition alongside Kaiden and looked over to the other one to see Garrus and Ashley. Where was Wrex tho-?

"RAARGH!"

There he is. Ripping one of the turrets out of its housing with his biotics and launching it at the other turret. The small explosion made my ears ring but otherwise did nothing as we all moved toward the desk, only to find Fist on his knees cowering.

"Please, Don't kill me!" He begged.

I aimed my pistol at him anyway and asked, "Where's the Quarian?"

Fist shook his head, "I don't know where she is, that's the truth."

"He's no use to you now," Wrex said, hefting his shotgun, "Let me kill him."

"Wait! Wait!" Fist pleaded, "I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her!"

"I'm sorry, what? You don't know where she is but can tell us where she is?" Kaiden asked, "That doesn't make sense. Do you know, or not?"

"I mean I don't know where she is right now, but I know where she's going to be!" Fist explained rapidly.

"Where?" I demanded.

"The back alley by the markets! The deal's supposed to be going on right now, you can make it if you hurry!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I was a little annoyed that Shepard had told me to wait, but I understood why he did so. I wasn't trained for combat and had next to no experience. But I felt useless just standing around and waiting. I knew there must have been something I could do. But what could I do to help them without having to use my pistol? That's when the idea hit me. If I can get to Tali before the deal even happens, I could get her out of there without even having to draw my gun!

I grinned, pleased at the idea and immediately started moving toward where the alley was in the game. It was right there and the panel was green so I could get in! I opened the door and stepped through, and then promptly lost the grin. This was not the alleyway depicted in the game. The stairs I was at the top of went down farther than I remembered and through into a very long, and dimly lit corridor. To my left the wall was just flat, but to the right there appeared to be other smaller corridors that branched off. The corridor disappeared into the gloom and I prayed that the alley I was looking for wasn't down there.

I moved as quickly and quietly as I could, down the stairs and stopped to peek into the first alley. It was empty. As was the next one, and then the next. It wasn't until I got to the sixth alley that I saw anything. There was someone down this alley, but they were right in front of a light so all I could see was a silhouette. But I was pretty sure it was Tali. The nervous pacing, wringing her hands and then finally the glow of her eyes behind her mask as she faced toward me. And then froze. Shit! She'd seen me! What do I do? What do I do?

...

To hell with it!

I walked around the corner and started walking towards her, glancing behind me for a moment before peering ahead, trying to make sure it was just the two of us in the alley. I didn't see anything moving but her so I breathed a sigh of relief even as she tensed up when I stepped into the light.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" she demanded.

That was it! That's Tali's voice! I replied quietly, just in case my voice carried, "They aren't coming. The Shadow Broker never meets anyone in person, and Fist is on Saren's payroll."

I watched as her eyes widened and she whispered out a, "What?" She quickly recovered though and narrowed her eyes and tensing up. I noticed her arm moving back a bit and could see the shotgun she had strapped across the small of her back. "Who are you? Why are you here."

I held my hands up, "I'm a friend, looking to get that evidence you have to the Council to prove that Saren's gone rouge. Please, we need to leave now, before Saren's assassins show up."

"Oh, it's a bit late for that," a voice said from behind Tali.

Tali spun around and backed up towards me as the turian and two salarians approached. I put my arm out in front of Tali and stepped in front of her. My hands were sweating and my heart was racing as the turian got closer to me. I felt slightly sick to my stomach and was breathing rapidly, starting to hyperventilate. I felt hot, like I was burning.

Well, this plan went sideways fast. I didn't know what to do. I was terrified, because I knew, I was about to die. "Go," I said, my voice cracking. The turian stopped right in front of me and I heard nothing behind me so I shouted, "GO TALI!"

The turian moved fast, hitting me with a punch straight at my mouth. Even as I tried to turn away the punch connected and everything went black for a moment before I found myself facing the other way and falling to the ground, even as I saw Tali running down the ally.

"Get her!" the turian ordered the salarians.

They ran past going after her. I heard the turian come up behind me and bring a foot down on my back, making me grunt in pain at the impact. Then his hand was on my shoulder and he flipped me over. I was still trying to get my bearings when his hand wrapped around my throat and picked me up. I grabbed at his hands, trying to get them off me or at least loosen their grip. That's when I heard the sound of weapons firing somewhere off behind me and the turian looked over my shoulder. He immediately put me down and spun me around, holding me in front of him as a meat shield while he put his pistol to the side of my head.

I could only watch as Shepard and the others, including Tali slowed down as they approached, weapons still aimed toward the turian and me. "Stop right there!" the turian ordered while they were still a good ten meters away.

"Let him go!" Shepard said, aiming down the sights of his rifle.

The turian chuckled and took a step back, "I'm leaving and he's coming with me. Follow and he dies."

I'm not sure why but I suddenly felt calm. My heart was still racing, I was still burning up, but I was calm. Focused. At the turians words I just smirked and added, "Sooner." He jammed his pistol into the side of my head for that and I winced.

It was silent for several long moments before I suddenly had an epiphany. It wasn't exactly a pleasant one, but the plan it gave was better than the alternative. Besides... chicks dig scars, right?

"Hey Garrus," I said, getting everyone's attention, "Sometimes, you don't get lucky." As soon as I finished saying that I moved my hand a bit to the side and made sure he could see me deactivate my shield. I saw his eyes widen almost instantly and then in the next moment he had aimed and fired.

The turian and I both dropped to the ground and I rolled off of him while gritting my teeth. Through teary eyes I could see the hole in the assassins chest and allowed myself a moment of private celebration before pain flared up in my shoulder in the area closest to the chest. I felt hands grab me and pick me up, making the pain flare unbearably. "AAH!"

I gritted my teeth and looked up as someone pulled my hand away. Kaiden was standing right there, applying medigel to the tunnel in my shoulder. Almost immediately a cooling sensation could be felt and then the area went numb. I let out several shaky breaths as everyone stood in front of me.

"That was a big risk you took," Ashley commented.

I looked at her and shrugged, wincing a little when I did, "It paid off."

Garrus was shaking his head in disbelief, "Heh, just when I think I've seen it all, an ally says 'shoot me.' You're crazy, Dazac." I grinned, taking that as a compliment.

"You've got a quad, kid, I'll give you that," Wrex said making my grin wider.

Shepard was shaking his head and looked pretty mad which made my grin falter a bit., "I thought I told you to wait for us."

I was feeling pretty good about myself at the moment, so I decided to be a smart-ass and replied, "Really? I could've sworn you said, 'Dazac go get the Quarian, the rest off us are heading to the Den for some drinks.'"

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt," Tali said, drawing everyone's gaze, "But, I need to thank you. If it wasn't for all of you, and especially you...Dazac?" I nodded to her that she'd gotten my name right and she continued, "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead right now. You said you wanted my evidence... well, it's yours."

"Great!" Kaiden said. "We should get to the embassy right away!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and we started off. Shepard fell into step with me though and gave me a very odd look. It was somewhere between suspicious and pissed off. "How'd you know to come here when you weren't there when Fist told us the location?" he asked.

I could see everyone title their heads slightly, apparently listening for my answer but trying to be discreet about it.

"Um..." I said, "Just luck, I guess."

"Luck?" Shepard repeated, disbelief evident in his voice.

I felt kind of nervous now, "Yeah... I got tired of waiting so decided to go for a walk, then I saw her," I gestured to Tali, "In one of the alley's, and then, well... you know the rest."

Shepard grunted in response, apparently grudgingly accepting the explanation. I felt relieved. Crisis averted!

"Um," Tali started and I suddenly felt my nerves skyrocket again. She wasn't going to tell them I was peeking around the corner, was she? That would raise hard questions, since going for a walk and peeking around corners don't generally go together. Thankfully she didn't seem to be mentioning that. Unfortunately, she brought up something far worse. "Dazac... when you told me to run... how did you know my name?"

…... Her name? When did I-...

Fuck.