***Author's Note***

Thank you so much for new follows and the such :)

And to Gamer for tirelessly reading and giving his opinions on my story. Such a bro

Hope you enjoy the new chapter !

Chapter 39 – Salvation

Shepard would not. Stop. Whistling. Thane gritted his teeth at the constant barrage of the sharp, high pitched "music" pouring from the Commander's pursed lips. It was maddening! How could he be so cheery when so much was at stake?

The entire galaxy was under attack from a force that a single species, never mind a single person, had no chance to beat alone, refugees kept pouring into the Citadel, making it more cramped than usual, tensions between people and groups were high, and on top of that, Marie was still missing. Sure, Traynor had an idea on where Marie was being kept, but these meetings with the council were taking too long. Every second, minute, and hour counted.

The turian Councillor was overall pleased with how Shepard had dealt with the situation on Menae, and now the asari had requests. Her planet was a hub of secrets and she believed there was something in a temple there that would help the overall war effort. The majority of people in attendance were shocked and appalled that the asari were still keeping prothean artifacts a secret, but Thane could not care less.

He fumed at the constant waiting around that was involved with waiting for Shepard. He sorely wished that he had kept going with his search, but everyone said they knew where Marie was roughly. Why couldn't Shepard let the council wait for him, or even send Garrus after Marie? If they had started the search as soon as the Normandy had docked, this situation would be solved by-

"Thane!"

He turned gracefully on the spot and faced one of the main reasons for his stormy mind. The long blonde hair was being roughly tied back, and guns were finally being strapped to his back and sides. Garrus walked with him as always, as did the asari, Liara and the human, Traynor.

"Commander," his voice did not give away his silent fuming, "it is time?

Shepard grinned, bringing up his omni-tool and tapping a few tabs. Thane's beeped and he glanced down at a map in an old warehouse district in Tayseri Ward. This ward was subject to intermittent blackouts and still under repair after the defeat of Sovereign, its unorganized nature at the moment was perfect for those people missing to stay missing. Her kidnappers had taken great lengths to move her from the Presidium to the warehouse district on the ward, he suspected foul play in customs or, at least, threatening bribes to those who worked there.

"We're expecting heavy security at the warehouse, Commander Bailey will be on standby with a squad should we need it." He grinned as he checked over his rifle, "I don't think we will."

Traynor looked pale and Thane wondered if she had ever seen combat before. The way he saw it, the new crew on the Normandy were the people who just happened to be on the ship when Earth was invaded by the Reaper forces. Traynor just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. She nodded all the same, "We believe there is more than one victim in the warehouse, judging from the communications I have been able to glean." She looked down, a little flustered at Thane's stare, "We have no idea on the conditions they're being kept in, or if the batarian's want a ransom for the people they have."

Shepard frowned, "They haven't told anyone that they have these people so I doubt that it's a ransom scenario." He chewed his lip for a moment, "Chances are, they're pissed about the whole destroyed relay and planet thing…"

"That's something we could use!" Garrus stepped forward, "They took Marie probably knowing that she was affiliated with you. This could be a plot to get you in the warehouse to try and take you down." It wasn't an unbelievable statement. Shepard had made many an enemy in the batarian community in repercussion of his actions with delaying the Reaper invasion.

"Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind. That being said, that gives us the hope that Marie is alive and well. She wouldn't make much of a bargaining chip if they'd killed her outright."

"Please…do not speak of her that way." The team looked to Thane, his eyes were cast down, struggling with the idea that Marie was just a tool to those who a taken her. A means to an end. A token in a game of poker. His hand clenched and his throat dried up. He would not cry in front of his team.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sugg-"

"It is fine. Let's go"

Thane led the way to the transport waiting for them, it would take an hour or so to get to their destination, plus an hour or two to resolve the situation. Thane estimated that he would have Marie back where she belonged in less than three. Dead or Alive.

Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection,
let my pleas drift to you,
on tides of light.

Grant her your divine protection,
and to those I hold dear.
Send forth your warrior-angels,
to shield us in the valley of tears.

Thane smiled at the end of his prayer. The warrior-angels were missing one of their rank. Garrus and Shepard were on high alert as they left their transport.

The district they were in was uninhabitable, the damage from Sovereign still evident everywhere. The only source of light was that from their lights and the hazy gentle glow from the wards above them. The operations and maintenance team haven't yet made it this far out in the two years they had been working on the Tayseri Ward. They turned on their torches and began their search; hopefully the entrance would be obvious, guards or a light or something.

Traynor opened her omni-tool and was following a signal path from the original radio conversations she had gleaned on the Normandy, "Apparently, the warehouse we want is two hundred yards ahead of us, probably buried beneath tonnes of rubble if this mess is anything to go by." She waved her arm, gesturing at the general state in this area of the ward.

Thane wouldn't let a couple tonnes of rubble stop him from getting to Marie, the timer in his mind said he had two more hours to find her, any later than that would not be acceptable to him.

The five of them searched the area; ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour. It was taking too long! Thane was beginning to get flustered, they were so close! He would not give in now. He would not return to the presidium without her.

"Over here!" Liara was waving them over from behind a large piece of rubble, they ran over and saw a tiny sliver of red light shining through the bottom of the rock and cement. Liara pushed the rubble and it move as though it were made of paper. It was a convincing whole piece of stage material made up to look like the rest of the desolation around them. Clever, but not clever enough.

There was a metal grate beneath it with a coded lock, Garrus knelt down and brought up his hacking software, tapping at it intermittently to join up certain code eventually making the lock turn green.

Shepard grinned and lifted the grate revealing a set of claustrophobic stairs that had been cut into the under rock of the ward. He armed himself with his rifle and walked softly, wary of security measures and traps. The rest of them followed, stepping where their Commander had stepped before them. They reached the bottom, Shepard on point and the others in two's behind him.

They were in a long corridor with various rooms on either side that had windows looking out into the walk space. Thane assumed this was where packages and deliveries were sorted for this particular district, though it had obviously been out of use since the Sovereign attack. He hadn't been on the Citadel when the attack had happened but he had seen the footage and had heard the story through the Duct Rats, Shepard had done the impossible then. It seemed his Commander made his living from accomplishing the impossible. The corridor was dimly lit with a rusty light, making the space seem more dingy than was actual fact, and it fit the situation perfectly.

The group moved carefully, Shepard glancing into windows before signalling them to move forward, it was a slow and excruciating pace. Thane wished he could sink into the shadows and go ahead, but he had no idea how many perpetrators there were to deal with and he guessed that Shepard wasn't planning on leaving anyone alive to repeat what they had done.

"Mmm, I bet your precious Shepard enjoys this…"

There were four batarians clustered around the chair Marie was tied to. The one that had spoken casually ran his fingers through her long hair and they caught on the knots and in the matted dirt. They had been poking her for information for a few hours, jabbing her with sharp things and with blunt fists, while the other people in the cages looked on in varying levels of horror and passive negligence. They had given up calling out and screaming for someone to help her, to help them, it was a waste of precious energy.

"It'd be a shame if he found you without it, wouldn't it, boys?" They jeered and laughed at her, ignoring the ever present tears on her cheeks.

She saw the orange glow of an omni-blade and one of them held her head still with his dirty hands. She felt the grip of a fist gather her hair roughly at the scalp, she closed her eyes against the sharp pain, and then the pressure was gone. She blinked against the tears as her hair was placed on her lap.

"I…I just want to go h-home…" Marie whispered carefully to herself. Gods her throat was dry, and each word felt like sandpaper.

One of them grabbed her face, "What you say?" He squeezed, "You want to go home?" They laughed again, cracking her across the face and hitting her stomach so that she doubled over as far as she could in the restraints.

One stopped, his land going to his ear as he listened to new orders, he grunted and nodded, "Bartak, come with me! We have an intruder!"

The two ran off, leaving their teammates still laughing at Marie.

Shepard grinned when the last batarian fell, at least they knew that it had been a ploy for him to come and be taken down by them. Not that they're doing a very good job of it. They were too easy to beat they obviously had very little training or lacking a good leader. Though, he mused, at least we can move quickly and find Marie this way. That is, if they haven't killed her.

His thoughts moved to Thane, he wasn't being as precise with his kills, shooting the batarian's in the chest rather than the head like he would've done in any other situation. The drell wanted these scum to suffer and Shepard didn't blame him. He wondered if he blamed Shepard for this. It wouldn't surprise him, he was being blamed for a lot these days. Leaving Earth and allowing people to die there, Palaven and Menae, the batarian's home planet. They weren't small accusations, the sheer weight of them pressed on him daily.

They moved on, finding large doors with light coming through the gaps at the bottom. There was a faded sign on the right hand side saying "Warehouse C – Livestock and Animals", they could hear laughter coming from within. A fury built up in Shepard, how dare they class Marie as an animal! Livestock to be lead to the slaughter. He growled and gestured to the team to step back as he cracked the door open a little.

The smell was horrific, a mixture of death and waste, his stomach churned and he took a moment to collect himself. There were other sounds now mixing with the laughter, cries and whimpers, gasps and sobs. There was obviously more people than just Marie and a few batarians in there. He turned away to address the group.

"Okay, here's how we're going to do this: from what I could gather, there's more than we thought going on in there. Lots of people and a lot of collateral damage, let's keep it to a minimum. Thane, I want you to do what you do best, get up high and drop at the opportune moment. The rest of us will cover you if needed and be a distraction. This is it, let's not fuck it up."

Thane disappeared as soon as Shepard entered the warehouse. There was a maze of cages filled with people, some of them looked up and started calling out for them to help and he had to shush them more than once. Others were dead or dying and he prayed that they wouldn't find Marie in such a state.

They wound their way through the maze and came out in an open space, a small figure was in its center strapped to a chair, his short hair was bloody and he was sobbing softly, his head was bowed low. Two batarians were watching him and his team approach, sick grins plastered their faces.

"Ah! The infamous Commander Shepard, come to save your precious girl from her fate?" His voice rumbled with self-fulfilled pride, "You're not going to a chance!" He growled and Shepard sensed a speech, "After what you did to us, destroying our system as though we were but flies on your bathroom mirror!"

Shepard touched his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm, very poetic. Did you teach yourself?" He heard Garrus choke back a chuckle as Traynor groaned, rolling her eyes and wishing that Shepard would deal with this diplomatically.

"Shut up!" He flailed and pulled out a handgun, waving it at his team, "You killed us! All of us!" Shepard wasn't expecting an emotional outburst but he ran with it, buying Thane more time. "My friends and family burned to death in the mass relay's fire, and you did nothing!" He took a breath, "You didn't even try to evacuate, you just sat idly by and watch our planet blow up." The other batarian nodded, his hands holding the boys shoulders tightly and making him squirm.

"Well, unlike what you gave us, we're going to give you a choice. You can save the girl…" He pulled a gun and pressed it firmly against the skull of the boy in the chair, his head lifted and Shepard tightened his fingers around his rifle, the small figure was Marie. Her hair chopped away roughly, purple bruises blossoming on her pale face and arms, "Or, you can save the majority." He gestured to the caged people as he pulled a small detonator out of his pocket. Shepard groaned, he hadn't noticed any explosives around and looked to Garrus who shrugged. Nobody had noticed.

He stalled for time, "You wouldn't blow the place up with yourselves inside, would you?"

The batarians shrugged, "If it meant taking you down with us, we would." They obviously weren't the brightest crayola's in the packet. They were just grunts, tiny cogs in a bigger machine. Shepard guessed this was a hub for a slave ring and the group they had taken down were over stepping their pay grade. By a lot. "We would be the sung heroes of our race! The ones who took down The Shepard." The? Shepard grinned, he liked The Shepard.

Liara spoke, looking at her omni-tool, "Her vitals are erratic, Shepard. We need to do something soon."

"I am in position." Thanes voice sounded tinny through his ear piece.

"So, what's it going to be?" The batarian pressed the gun harder into Marie's skull, "Your girl, or the helpless people around you?"

"She's not my girl."

The batarians frowned, confused, the confusion didn't last long though as Thane dropped from the rafters above them and landed silently in front of them. He was quick, blurring lines of black and green as he disarmed the batarians and swiftly throat punched them. They lay gasping on the floor as Thane stepped over them, leaving their fate up to Shepard.

Shepard ran forward, putting bullet holes in their heads without a second thought and began untying Marie as Thane knelt in front of her, his gentle and deadly fingers brushing the tears from her face and cupping her cheek. Garrus was on his Omni-tool calling C-sec and a bomb squad, just in case their threats about the bomb were true, Liara was on the line to Huerta Memorial, and Traynor was running around and opening cages, the occupants of whom all looked as though they could pass out from sheer relief.

"Siha? Siha, can you hear me?" Thane was helping Marie out of the chair cradling her to his chest like he had done the first time they met. Marie's eyes were glazed over, the shock settling in, tears spilling freely down her cheeks.

Thane watched Marie sleep in her hospital bed, she was buried beneath blankets as she struggled to keep her body warm after a week of trauma. She had cried in the night about how she couldn't remember the man's name. He wasn't sure who she meant, but he figured he'd let her recover and see if she felt like talking about what happened then. He was just relieved that she was safe.

The news was on a screen and he turned up the volume a bit, "Two days ago, Commander Shepard and a portion of his crew were responsible for the eradication of a prevalent slaver ring." The news reporter looked familiar but Thane didn't care enough to place much thought on her, "In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Commander Shepard, going of intel he had gathered from the Council, lead a team into an abandoned warehouse in the Shien district of Tayseri Ward. With help from our C-Sec, bomb squad, and staff from Huerta, they eradicated no less than a dozen batarian slavers, saving fifty four asari, salarian, and human persons. Eighteen bodies were found and the cause of death has been revealed as starvation, and two from gunshot wounds to the head and chest. More information to follow after this:" The news changed to advert about a turian and quarian romance.

Thane rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Marie and was pleased to see her eyes looking at him. He move forward an inch on his seat in an effort to be closer to her, "How are you?" She held her hand up and reached for him and he took it in his own. She pulled gingerly and he joined her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her with her head on his chest. His fingers ran through the remaining parts of her once lovely hair. It was short, some parts revealing her scalp, others parts long enough for him to play with. He didn't care, just being able to feel her breathe against him again was all he needed.

She didn't answer his question, simply laying in silence and drifting off back to sleep.

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