Skarr paid little attention to the newcomers. He had sized up his 'companions' earlier, but with the knowledge that Spectres were the reason behind this, he did not feel the immediate danger of betrayal that was often a cornerstone of such ominous and mysterious contracts like this. That didn't stop him from seeing how they moved, the knowledge of that now sorted into his war-torn mind just in case, for later. As for who they were? He'd care when they proved they were worth his attention.

He switched his Assault Rifle for his Claymore Shotgun as they walked. He couldn't say that he was particularly happy that they were to merely incapacitate the Cerberus operatives, but he'd done more than a few such jobs. In fact he had often been preferred by employers for such tasks, due to his intense sense of control. Most Krogan Battlemasters would punch a man, and question later why the human's skull was so weak that their head caved in.

He prepared a special round in his shotgun just for such an occasion, and shouldered it at the ready for when the combat would break out. The Krogan's body ready to spring, he waited...

Skarr fired. As his companions fought around him, the Krogan's Concussive shell slammed into one of the Cerberus operatives aiming for Rykarn's back from afar. Even as the man was knocked off his feet and sent into the wall, Skarr was charging forward powerfully. He holstered his shotgun, deciding to keep himself from wasting ammunition. He closed the distance between he and the next trooper fast, only getting a small graze of a Pistol shot along his armor before he knocked the weapon flying, his other hand 'lightly' striking the trooper across the head, and then booting the man in the chest with a powerful knee.

When the man flew, the Krogan stomped down on his same foot to halt his advance abruptly. A quick scan showed that turrets were still deploying. He grinned from within his erected helmet, and revealed his Biotic hammer. With a roar, he shifted his weight and slammed his hammer into the ground. A biotic shockwave erupted and ripped apart the ground, the wave of energy burst through two of the turrets and heavily damaging a third in the process. The last turret that was juttering, he took his time with. He strode over to it, and personally crushed it with a well placed hammer strike.

"Are we done, here?" he asked them.

_{Staff Lieutenant Jake Anderson}

Before the fireworks started the Batarian asked the Geth if it could hack the LOKI mechs, though intimated that Phalanx should only do such if Jake ordered it. Maybe Balak figured that if he started passing out tactical suggestions then Anderson would get precious about his apparent authority being usurped. If that was the case, then it was almost enough to make the N7 laugh. A good idea was a good idea, and if his team could see and exploit a tactical advantage that he’d overlooked, all the better.

“Permission granted Phalanx. You see an opening, you take it. Good call Balak.” Maybe working with a Batarian wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

The infiltration team hadn’t been waiting long when the first distant cracks of gunfire was heard. Pre-fight nerves gave way to countless hours of training, and Jake the man, who had hopes and dreams and fears and doubts, fully slipped into the role of Jake the soldier, a living weapon crafted by the Systems Alliance military, the latest model in a long line of warriors to spring from the Anderson line. The Valkyrie assault rifle, which just moments ago had seemed so heavy and so cumbersome, suddenly weighed no more than good intentions, and fit his hands better than any lover ever could. All those uncertainties, all the dreads, all the problems that seemed so important heartbeats ago may as well have belonged to another man. Suddenly he was focused in a way that most normal people would never understand, could never understand.

His body seemed to roil with energy, with a desperate need to close with the enemy and destroy them, with his own hands if he had to. Iron discipline kept him in place, kept him at his self-ordained post keeping this avenue of escape open. Time seemed to crawl as he watched the Batarian fire upon, and subsequently end, a LOKI mech, turning it into so much scrap metal. The rest of the robots ignored the infiltration team, and made off in the direction of the assault teams chaos. The only explanation Anderson could think of for that strange even was that their VI’s were faulty somehow, forcing them to deal with the most overt threat to the compound. Bizarre, but fortunate.

Angel and Sicaria had managed to subdue the scientists without any bloodshed, who were now huddling in panicked balls under their desks, while Rayes’Xum Vas Fowal was determinedly battling with the databanks cyberdefence suites. If the Quarian was half as good at hacking as his profile stated he was, then he’d have what they needed in seconds. If Anderson didn’t know any better he would have said things were going too well. . .

Right on cue the door diametrically opposite his position slid open, and in poured two dog like FENRIR mechs, quickly followed by five Cerberus assault troopers led by a Centurion. Jake wasn’t sure why they’d come here instead of reinforcing their allies at the front door, but he really didn’t have time to ponder the question. One of the FENRIR’s charged at Raye’s, while the second leapt up to the raised dais to attack the two Turians. The Cerberus Centurian hurled a frag grenade up at the raised dais, towards Balak’s general position.

Without wasting anymore time Jake screamed a warning to the squad, before moving to engage the Cerberus troopers, trusting the snipers above to cover the mostly defenceless Quarian, and the Turian’s to deal with their own problems. He loaded up then fired a concussive shot, it striking the lead troopers breastplate dead centre, sending the man flying from his feet. Anderson didn’t get the chance to follow up his attack, as the rest of the troopers began to fire upon him, forcing him back behind the limited cover of the doorway. Hornet fire tore into the concrete, tearing chips from the stone work, though he risked a glance back round, seeing the troopers ducking behind cover of their own, though the man he had hit was still down. Dead, with any luck, concussed if not.

"Fuuuck." He hoped Aegon was in as deep shit as he was right now. After all, this was supposed to be the 'easy' number.

The Spectre leaned back out of cover to trade fire with the Cerbs, aware that unless he got support from his team, this wasn't going to end pretty.

---

Phalanx scanned the area, awaiting for the opportunity where its assistance was needed. For some reason, the LOKI mechs left to move to fend off the front gate. So there was little reason to hack them and chose to just leave them alone. The Assault Team could handle them, and they didn't pose immediate threat here. Creator Rayes'Xum nar Yaron went to work in hacking into the database, which shouldn't take too long if his skills are up to par. The Turian pair seemed to subdue the scientists with ease, and all was going well considering.

Two FENRIR mechs, five Cerberus assault troopers and a Centurion entered. Everything seemed to go a bit more chaotic, but for Phalanx it was split reaction. Booting up its systems, it pointed its Omni-Tool to assist in wirelessly hacking into the FENRIR mech leaping towards Creator Rayes'Xum nar Yaron. The white colored machine faltered, landing right beside the Creator, jittering in place for but a moment before standing rigid.

"Phalanx online. Hacking successful." it beeped before turning suddenly and crashing into the other FENRIR mech. Slamming it to the ground and attempting to pin it there for the Turians to finish it off.

Quickly it turned its Omni-Tool towards the flying Frag Grenade, flames jetting out as the Geth activated incinerate and smacking the frag before it got to the Batarian. Causing it to explode in midair. Readying its sniper rifle, the Geth scanned the situation with Jake Anderson as he attacked, landing a solid punch on one of the troopers. But the Spectre was soon forced behind a doorway for cover. Phalanx then took a shot, firing its powerful rifle and nailing the Centurion right in the right thigh. The electric field around the disruption bullet flickering, cutting through the shields. The hostile's weapon slightly having static flicker from it, and Phalanx could hear a angry curse.

The Geth then resumed to reload its weapon. Geth Pulse Sniper Rifle's packed a hefty punch, but they required reloading and cool down.

---

---

Within his first few seconds of touching the terminal and proceeding to hack with his Omni-Tool, he nearly scoffed at how simple the security was to break, watching as the data began to flow like a river. He almost said that it was a bit too easy, but he felt he'd jeopardize his luck by saying such a thing, right? As the data continued to be uploaded into his tool, he managed to bring up a screen to analyze some of the data to get a better picture of what exactly he was finding, but he could not have expected to find what he did.

Glimpses of an almost absurd amount of credits passing through the facility were the first things he saw. It made him confused in those brief seconds, curious as to whom was funding them after Cerberus' detrimental loss of their facility and boss. And while they did pass through this Cerberus facility, he noticed they were going off towards Terra Firma... Rayes wondered why that name sounded familiar... Whatever, now was not the time, and there was more data to be taken notice of.

For instance, another interesting bit he managed to take note of was experimentation on husks in the form of lab reports. Toying with reaper beings... How disgusting. What sort of tests would they run? He felt like this couldn't have been the first time Cerberus would experiment on husks after he learned that a majority of them were indoctrinated to the Reapers, but the thought of it made him disgusted nonetheless. Had they been doing stuff such as that while he was helping the crucible? It made him shudder to even think about...

Following that, there was another thing he found interesting through the files that continued to flow, which was a name: The Director. To Rayes, it sounded like another sort of boss for Cerberus following the Illusive Man, but who would the Illusive Man have as a successor? Or was this even the boss in the first place? It seemed likely, as there were several orders coming from him towards the facility. There was also a mention of something called The Three Heads. It sounded ominous... He was glad that he was with the Spectres and that the information would go to them in the end. All he had to do was make sure to stay close enough that his Omni-Tool could keep a steady signal...

It was then that he realized enemy reinforcements had suddenly appeared for them, compromising his position and forcing him to move. He was hesitant at first, but he felt that, so long as he stayed in the room and didn't mess with his omni-tool, he should have a strong enough connection to maintain the databank hack. Unfortunately, there was some sort of mech approaching, but hacking into it would stop the connection he had with the terminal. He almost did so, had it not been for Phalanx doing it for him. He'd be sure to thank her in excessive amounts later, but instead, he hastily rushed towards the desks nearby, ducking under one in an effort to hide. He wasn't one of the main threats, surely they wouldn't go after him?

Feeling relatively secure, he kept his left hand on his pistol, staring at his Omni-Tool as he saw something incredible. Or rather, something he wasn't sure what to do. Shifting several things around in the databanks, he managed to track the funds from Cerberus towards Terra Firma, and could manipulate them as he saw fit. Surely they wouldn't be mad if all their funds would go missing, yes? If it was some group Cerberus was forming, he felt for sure that taking them would be ideal.

But, somewhere inside him, he was conflicted. Where should he put this immeasurable amount of funds? Giving it to the Spectres sounded alright in theory, however, he didn't know enough about them other than what they've told. When it came to the other Quarians, he knew they'd waste it on something ridiculous. Probably air conditioning for each environmental suit... They should know just to get that upgrade themselves! And... he had no idea where to put them even if he wanted to give them to the Spectres... They could go towards rebuilding, but a thought appeared... Why would he help the majority that acted like their war with the Geth was nothing? He may not have agreed with the war, but he did what he had to do for his people and their survival...

In the end, he didn't know who to trust or what to do. He felt like the only one he could trust right now was himself, and until he could talk to the Spectres, ultimately he began to 'borrow' the funds into a separate account that he could control and keep secure. He had no use for that much credits at the moment, but he wanted to at least make sure they would be in a secure place before making a decision on where they would go. After this mission, he'd ask to speak privately with Spectre Anderson and Spectre Partinax about the data he collected, along with what he should do with the funds he was stealing. Yes... that would be the most logical option, right? Make sure to have it first, then ask where to put it later. He had no use for it... He told himself that many times in those short moments that felt like hours in his head. And yet he was hesitant... Hesitant to talk about what to do.

He shook his head.

Now was not the time for such decisions.

Now was a time to screw over Cerberus. He stared down at his Omni-Tool one last time as the data continued to flow into it before gripping his pistol tighter. He would be sure to shoot any bosh'tet that came near his desk.

The Spectre glared right back at Vella, daring her to say something out of line and turning away when she didn't. He couldn't take a soft hand with this group, not until he could actually trust them. Though the chances of that happening before Sol went Supernova was rapidly plummeting to zero by the minute.

Aegon saw two troopers die instantly, torn apart into so much scrap and viscera by an explosive round. He was unfazed by the scene but was minutely annoyed by Gile's disregard for his orders. That would have to be dealt with. But later. However, credit where credit was due, it had been a stellar shot and now several nearby troopers were further stunned by the blast. At the same time, he saw another trooper get savagely hit in the head twice. His helmet was broken in half and he was out of the fight, but Aegon was unsure if the man still drew breath. His companion fared little better as Salissa steamrolled him with her shield and knocked him out. One man had his head ripped off his shoulders by Ellis while the behemoth backhanded another into a wall with a sickening crunch while causing another explosion. Aegon sighed internally. He could only hope the tunnel system didn't collapse on them. Luckily for them the hall remained mostly intact though it shook mightily and dust fell from the ceiling. Despite the sloppiness Aegon had to admire the results. Just a few moments and almost half of the troopers were already down.

One of the turrets had been destroyed by Ellis and Aegon had destroyed another. Aegon had to admit Vella had a solid idea when she disabled the optics on another two, causing the turrets to run a safety protocol and disable themselves in order to avoid friendly fire. That became redundant when Skarr destroyed them with his hammer and Rykarn wrecked the last two with skillfull grenade throws. More dust fell from the ceiling and Aegon shouted out, turning up his helmets loudspeakers, "Mind the tunnel! Go easy on the explosions! I don't intend to be buried here!" Despite the volume, Aegon couldn't be sure if Rykarn heard as he quickly and brutally took another three out of the fight. Then Skarr took down the last two just as hard. If they weren't destined for the morgue, then they'd be spending quite a bit of time in the hospital. Only three left. Might as well have some fun myself.

Normally he avoided these kind of theatrics but it might pay off to show them what he could do. The last three Cerberus Troopers were dazed, distracted, and discombobulated by the near constant explosions and quick defeat of their teammates. For just a moment their composure had broken and they didn't know what to do. That was all the time Aegon needed. He activated his jumpjets and charged through the air. He hired off a shot from his Mattock, the concussive round hitting one trooper square in the helmet and knocking him to the ground and out of the fight. The last two turned towards Aegon and he clotheslined one on the way with his rifle while he used the last Trooper as a landing pad, driving them both to the ground. His fist lashed out and knocked the trooper's head into the concrete while he twisted and kicked the last one in the face, cracking in his helm and knocking him out.

Aegon stood and nodded, "Good job team. They'll be coming for us now. Rykarn, Skarr, Ellis, Salissa, stack up near the doors. Giles hang back. Vella, Tiberius, you're midranks with me. As soon as they open those doors, whatever comes at it, we hold our ground and break them. Get ready." Aegon got into position, reloading his rifle and taking cover with a clear line of sight at the false wall while the team got into position. They didn't have to wait long. The doors popped open and all hell broke loose. The doors revealed a large hallway and another squad of Cerberus goons were on their way. Except this time, a dozen FENRIS mechs charged down the hallway at the team while the Cerberus squad had six Guardians in front with heavy shields and a Centurion lead another dozen assault troopers. In the distance they could see two Engineers advance, hurrying into position to set up more turrets. The worst was saved for last however. Behind them all stomped a YMIR Mech, making the ground shake with every step.

Aegon shouted, "Let 'em have it! Everything you have!" He popped in a clip of standard rounds and he wheeled around the corner, firing once and hitting a FENRIS Mech in the head, killing it and causing it to blow up in shrapnel to stun the other mechs and buy the team a few seconds of cover. The YMIR mech started laying down heavy machine gun fire at the rest of them while the Guardians slowly advanced and fired their weapons. Aegon narrowly dodged a stream of heavy rounds, he heard the tell-tale clinking of grenades as the Centurion and his squad launched a volley at the positions near the door. Aegon shouted, hoping the team would understand, "Grenades back in the hole!" The tunnel system proper was old and couldn't take much more punishment, but it seemed Cerberus had reinforced their base which could likely stand the force of heavy explosives. If they could give Cerberus their grenades back they stood a chance of not being buried alive.

---

Ja'Far was slightly surprised at the VI's lack of reaction to his shot. He supposed that they were driven towards the firefight beyond them, the gunfire outside increasing in volume rapidly. It seemed as though that the distraction team were encountering quite heavy resistance, however he doubted that they would be slowed down any considerable amount. With multiple krogans and multiple vanguards, he would guess that the enemy will be quickly squashed under their combined might. He relaxed his grip on his rifle, keeping it at the ready as he watched the mechs march onwards, leaving the sparking scrap behind.

He had to admit, he was impressed with how this team ws currently functioning. Rayes'Xum has proved his worth in his hacking/tech skills, the lines of scripts and code were hard for him to follow even as someone who was versed in tech. He wasn't any sort of genius, he took a little too long in sabotaging and hacking than he''d like in the instantaneous moment to moment fights. In reality, unlike what most people believed fighting was like, it wasn't slow motion. It was fast paced, hard to keep up with and most combat situations will end swiftly. It weren't the long slog sieges that you would see in some sort of vid, only soldiers or the exceptionally talented could keep up with how fast it all was.

'This seems too easy.' The former Legionnaire peered suspiciously around the room, finger inching slowly to the trigger. As if almost on cue, a group of Cerberus soldiers ran into the room, weapons at the ready. Two FENRIR mechs launched towards the Turians and Rayes who was currently busy with hacking. Phalanx was quick on it's feet and deactivated the FENRIR launching at the Quarian before proceeding to pin the other mech. However, as he watched this all happen in a mere few seconds, he saw the round object currently hurtling towards him. Eyes widening in surprise, he raised his omni-tool arm to use incinerate on the blasted thing. Fortunately, the grenade was quickly deflected by the aforementioned Geth's own incinerate, making it explode mid air. He breathed a sigh of relief before swearing at himself.

It was unforgivable, to have been so slow in reacting. If it wasn't for Phalanx, Ja'Far might have incinerated much too close to his own position,t hus collapsing the balcony he was currently in. Reminding himself to thank the Geth later and to train much harder to shake off the rust, he prepped another shot. He flipped to three-round bursts, figuring that it would be more useful for these shielded opponents.

This, this was when the combat slowed down for him, when the Divine prayers were upon his lips. He slowed his breathing, peering through his scope once more as he zoomed in on the soldier nearest to Rayes as he fired on Anderson's position. His heartbeat slowed, his vision solely on the target in his sights. He inhaled, zooming on to the soldier's leg. The Incisor sung once more, two three-round bursts in quick succession, any jerking reduced by his shoulder as he exhaled. The first burst was deflected by the barrier, the fourth round piercing it as the other two hit home. Both shot through his thigh, causing the Dog to come down in pain. He visibly jerked and fell down, clutching his leg.

The marksman adjusted his aim to another trooper as he watched his comrade go down in pain and fired another two bursts at him, bringing him down as the soldier also clutched his thigh in pain. Fire was quickly directed at him and the boogeyman quickly took cover with his shields flickering slightly, searching for where he placed his clip. Although the Incisor had quite a large clip for a sniper rifle and a built in burst mode, it's firepower was severely lacking and he could only disable his opponents at this current point in time. Ejecting the heat cartridge, he continued to pray under his breath. "-the Pillar of Guidance who looks upon me. I prithee that thou give miń blessing upon my unholy eyes, I beg for thine salvation through fire-"

"Come on, ol' Chugger! You heard Sgt Tusky, we are advancing to midranks!"

Vella tapped Tiberius's armor from the side emthusiastically, before the Asari leaped out from the cover and rushed down to reach Aegon's position! She moved with a brisk, rapid step across the ruined and loose ground. Even though all the hostiles in the current zone were seemingly taken care of, she still held her weapon in a pose suggesting she was ready to snap it up at the next split second if the situation required it!

In her mind, she thought of how she had 'almost' not smuggled her weapons and armor past spaceport security. Fortunately her pessimistic side had won through, something she was glad for now as she was in the middle of a rolling battle!

"If this is the best Cerberus has to offer, then they are seriously overrated!" Vella chuckeled as she made sure to pick a piece of cover that wouldn't just wither under the first high powered shot that hit it, ending up with picking an old, dusty heavy block of reinforced concrete that she crouched behind.
Being almost seven feet tall herself didn't really help the whole "take cover!" sort of part of combat, however, it had made the Asari pretty good at squats, so that was one thing!

However, as the doors suddenly opened, and a new wave of Cerberus operatives and their robotic allies surged out, Vella's mood would change once more as she raised her rifle.

A dozen FENRIS mechs came leaping and bounding out towards them, accompanied by a large host of Cerberus operatives following closely behind!

To see a large force push through a narrow hallway could hint at something of a desperation or recklessness from the defenders. Vella had mostly dealt with pirates and criminals before the Reaper war, the cowardly type that preferred to skulk in every shadow and huddle in the corners if they ever lost ground. It was not until the Reaper war that she had witnessed aggressive wave tactics, and so the recent Cerberush rush did not come as as big a surprise.

"Pulse out!" Vella suddenly called out to the rest of her team, as the Asari reached for an EMP grenade at her belt before tossing it towards the center of the incoming FENRIS mechs. Within a second, the EMP grenade detonated, releasing an electromagnetic pulse designed to fry circuits and electronics! Most of the FENRIS mechs were immediately hit by it, causing them to become dazed and sluggish. The lights on one of them faded as it slumped over, inactive, whilst another one froze up in its position, repeating a message: "Error. Error. Malfunctioning. Operations ceased. Please call Technical Support at +91 456 17 438!"

Due to their speed, some of the FENRIS had dodged the blast and were still rapidly approaching. Vella did not focus on them anymore, deciding to leave them for the Krogans.
Instead, the march of the approaching Guardians was her new concern. She had never faced them before, only read about how they supposedly laughed at all but the most high powered weaponry due to their shields. However, she had also read about their vulnerability to biotics, something she was keen to find out.

"Singularity out - Stand back!" Vella called out as she pushed forward with one arm, as in front of three of the advancing Guardians, a black, blueish swirling hole suddenly emerged from out of nowhere! She could hear strained grunts from the Guardians as they struggled to hold onto their shields, one of them suddenly losing his as he was picked up and began floating up-side-down in the air, squirming about in confusion!

"Holy shit!"

She suddenly heard the mechanically filtered voice of one of the Cerberus Troopers shout out, as she just noticed two live Grenades had also been caught by the Singularity; and were currently floating and bopping around it as well; some of the Troopers probably not having anticipated the sudden biotic phenomenon before tossing their grenades!

"Tough luck I guess." Vella chuckled next to Aegon before her vision was completely obscured by the Centurion's smoke screen, and she lost sight of the advancing Cerberus party, only suddenly hearing a loud bang as the grenades went off behind the smoke!

Alria was busy looking over the scientists to make sure they didn't try anything else stupid. Her pistol trained on them to ensure that extra level of authority, though she didn't intend to actually use it as they were unarmed and she felt confident enough to instead use it like a baton to strike them down like she had to the first four. Poor souls really, she didn't have anything against the unconscious ones or anything. She just needed to make an example and prove that they shouldn't mess with this Turian.

With her point apparently made Alria heard her back up stride up in the shape of another female Turian and as she commanded their surrender in more words that Alria had, she looked over to see her friend... bleeding. It made Alria do a double take and when she did she looked the stranger right in her eyes. "You're bleeding. What's wrong?" Her words short, but accented by her support hand going up to her mask, touching where her nose would be to show the other Turian where she was hurt at. Hopefully it wasn't due to something in this place. Knowing how much Cerberus hates aliens there may have been something in the air for all she knew.

Despite Alria's concern her attention was quickly pulled away to the sound of a door opening, followed by metal boots running along the floor. Reinforcements had arrived and in force which meant it was back to the action. Alria dashed forward and ducked down to take cover against a desk so to avoid being riddled with bullets, but apparently that was the least of her worries as two FENRIS mechs began a charge towards their position. One flanking off a bit and one heading straight for her. Though before any actions could be taken the one who veered off started to act funky and then tackle the other, sending them both barreling right for Alria. Eyes going a bit wide as they tumbled she quickly ducked down low under the desk to let them roll over her and land in their little safe space.

Seeing the two tangled up gave Alria a chance to strike and so she leveled her pistol at them and rapidly depressed the trigger six times strikign them both at random. Her goal to take them both out regardless of who they happened to serve. Then as her bullets struck them, penetrating their shieldless armor with ease and causing sparks and jolts to leap from their limp frames that started to go explosive. Alria realizing this ducked her head and curled up under the desk much like the scientists to avoid any damage. Just in time too as they blew up in a small burst and peppered the surrounding few feet with a gentle rain of robot scrap.

With that issue out of the way Alria opened back up from her ball to look out at the Assault Troops who were still advancing. Two were actually wounded at this point and while that was nice and all, that still left three who could shoot and hurt her friends or herself. Deciding to try and tip the advantage further from her foes, she reached to her lower back and grabbed a small disk, about the size of a tea saucer and after tapping a button on it made and under handed toss to send it spinning like a frisbee towards the group of enemies. "Flash out!" She yelled at the same time, making sure to not look at the disk as it blew up, sending a dazzling and blinding light combined with a sharp whooping noise that would daze any who looked in the objects direction.

Sicaria, with little else to do at the moment besides occasionally prod a scientist to keep them down, took a brief moment to relax with her gun in hand. It was at this moment that Alria told her that she was bleeding, earning a somewhat embarrassed reaction from the other Turian who wiped the blood from her face. Unfortunately, the color had already set and stained the skin blue, meaning it would have to be washed out when the mission was complete, along with her gauntlet now. "Oh, that? I'm fine, I just get nosebleeds under certain... erm, conditions." If she looked closely enough, she would probably be able to make out the faintest hint of a blush underneath her facial tattoos. With any luck, she wouldn't in that short time frame. "My name's Sicaria, I forgot to mention it earlier." She turned back to the hall just as a door opened up, allowing a Centurion, five Assault Troopers, and a pair of FENRIS mechs to pour out of the gateway and attack.

The mechs attempted to charge the pair of Turians, though one seemed to malfunction partway through the run and tackle the other one to the ground. Alria definitely made use of this to plug six shots into the robots indiscriminately, causing one to explode and disable the other. Phalanx shot and disabled the Centurion while Ja'Far put an end to the movement of two of troopers, so that left two Troopers and the Centurion. To Sicaria, this was child's play, especially now that a flash grenade had blown up in their faces, to which the Turian had shielded her eyes from with her hand. It was now time for a little action on her end.

With a flash of her Omni-Tool, violet hardlight formed up around her upper body for some additional protection while she charged into the fray, shotgun raised and a malicious grin on her face. The first victim to receive her wrath was one of the standing troopers, who had a literal faceful of buckshot given to him. Needless to say, his head was now something short of a dark red stump bleeding onto the ground. Next was the last of the Troopers that was slowly gaining his sight back, barrel stuffed into his chest and the trigger pulled, resulting in a baseball-sized hole that went almost clean through the armor and into the flesh, and out the back. "I won't be asking the Spirits to watch over any of you." As he fell, the man's helmet came loose and rolled away as he hit the ground, though his killer was already attending to other business by then.

She popped a fresh thermal clip into the previously empty shotgun while she turned to Anderson, a knowing smirk plastered on her face. "Still have your doubts about me?" A round was loaded into the Wraith's barrel with the same cock that had silenced the majority of the science-types moments ago, and she calmly made her way back to Rayes' defense. She paid it no mind, but there was a dark red splatter on her armor from the chest she had hollowed out less than a minute ago.

KKKKKKZZZZZZZSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!

"NERO! DIRECT CHANNEL TO VELLA! YOU WATCH THOSE GODDAMNED SHOCK GRENADES! IF I GET FUZZED BY ANOTHER STRAY FALLOFF I'LL PULL OFF YOUR ARMS!"

Ellis' HUD was fuzzy with static, his heat sinks reading both overheating and perfectly fine simultaneously. His servos stuttered, struggling to reconnect to his suits central processing. He fought to regain control, his left arm jolting and jumping back and forth as he tried again and again to simply draw his rifle off his back.

The FENRIS mechs completely ignored him, crippled as he was, and charged forward into the group he was supposed to be protecting.

FORGET ABOUT THEM! LOOK AT YOU!

Shots sizzled off his barrier, as he lay, crippled, the largest target in the room, until he saw -

A YMIR? JESUS!

One of the Guardians has taken advantage of the situation, and is taking his time, lining up a careful shot while Ellis struggled. Suddenly, one of their shields floated up, carrier becoming the carried, clawing at the shield, and then the floor, as a Singularity lifted him. Ellis felt his suit scraping the floor as the hole threatened to pull him in.

A smoke grenade went off. They'll be changing tactics now. I'd better do the same.

"NERO! Initiate Good Night!" He shouted over the constant gunfire. His only hope: a hard reset.

Everything went silent. The gunfire that once shuddered against his barrier now ticked and tocked against his armor. The explosions that were a moment ago nearly deafening now dropped to heavy thuds.
"REBOOT! NERO, REBOOT! DAMMIT!"
He could see the smoke through his manual view, but his HUD wasn't up yet. Yes! Come on!
There's his heat sinks, yellow-green, that's fine, all systems normal, then his HUD, armor in the red. Oh dear. Wait, that's my map-

THUD. Something heavy on his shell. THUD. This son of a bitch-

Is right on top of you.

Power to legs was good, and so he stood up, knocking the enemy off balance... Power to arms... Was... Good-
KILL
His right hand gripped the Guardian's shield hard enough to crumple it like paper. His left hand pushed down the trooper while he brought down the shield's edge like a guillotine, chopping the man in half. A flower of red blood spewed up Ellis' pitch-black chest, as he grabbed another Guardian by the helmet from behind. It appeared that most of them had simply moved around him, disregarded him while he rebooted. Some were adding insult to injury, using his body for cover. He squeezed, relishing the cracks like gunshots that split the man's screaming. There was no more laughter from Ellis. What filled him now was rage.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He'd lost his sidearm when he went down, so he picked up a dropped Hornet. He unleashed a torrent of bullets at close range into the Assault troops, killing at least one outright, no doubt injuring the rest, and slapped the Centurion aside like a bug. His target was dead ahead. He grabbed another Guardian shield and held it overhead, ready to strike with it like some sort of industrial scorpion, and spewed another full thermal clip from his scavenged sidearm. He tucked in his arms and legs, rolling like a hideous egg behind a nearby shipping crate, as the YMIR's automatic guns bombarded his position.

Go ahead, throw him a bone!

Ellis hurled the shield like a frisbee to the opposite side of the room. The YMIR followed perfectly, launching two rockets and a hail of bullets after it. Ellis drew his Mattock, and attempted to lay down suppressive fire with his left hand, while his right made the crushing motion characteristic of the Iron Maiden. He focused on the lower right arm, crushing and disabling the mech's missile pod.

The autogun returned fire, gradually tearing through more and more of Ellis' cover.

He fell back, exhausted, behind his crate. His heat sinks read orange, approaching the danger zone. He started to sweat as he popped the smoking brown sinks out, and new, red ones in, trusting his squad to cover him while he reloaded.

”On it.” Rykarn affirmed when the Spectre ordered the team to stack up to the door. He’d enjoyed the bit of a show Partinax put on with the jump jets; he briefly wondered if that kind of tech would work for him. Then again, the landing would be hell on his knees. He’d looked around, his body still tense, blood boiling in search of a fight, and the rest of the team had made short work of the Cerberus guards. It was a promising start; perhaps the Spectres knew what they were doing when they assembled their dossiers.

Before the order to breach the door could be given, Cerberus was considerate enough to open the reinforced barrier to counter-attack, hoping to catch their aggressors off guard. The order was given to unleash everything they had on the enemy, and beneath his helmet, Rykarn grinned maliciously. The kid gloves were coming off. Putting the shotgun and sidearm back into their respective slots, Rykarn pulled the M-100 grenade launcher from his back and stepped off from the wall intending to make the most of the clustered enemies. Rella had tossed an EMP grenade into the clustered mechs, which immediately fried most of their systems and staggered their charge, and she followed her attack up with a singularity, which broke up the advancing shield wall. The krogan was begrudgingly impressed by the asari’s judgement; maybe it was during combat where she was a competent individual, since her social impressions left a lot to be desired. From Ellis’ angry radio static, apparently the grenades were playing hell on his suit’s systems. He was evidently in trouble; he wasn’t moving, perhaps because of fried systems. Rykarn simply felt validated in the fact he did not depend on fancy electronics to fight; when you could be taken out of a fight due to bad wiring, you weren’t reliable.

Smoke was filling the corridor, blocking visual contact with the enemy, save for the deadly tracer rounds of the YMIR’s arm mounted rotary cannon. He knew from first-hand experience how brutal the YMIR mechs were, albeit usually on the side they were deployed. One of the mechs was equal to a platoon’s worth of reasonably trained and equipped soldiers, and a single one was capable of breaking the front lines of all but the most prepared units. Fortunately, Rykarn didn’t need to see what he was shooting at, so long as he was shooting over his own allies, the grenades would take care of the rest. Arcing the shot, Rykarn pull the trigger and the weapon shook violently as it ignited a grenade and the heavy cylinder rotated the next into position, locking into place with a loud and affirmative thunk. Firing five more shots and hearing each detonation, he felt satisfied he’d left a sizable dent in the enemy numbers and possibly did a number on the YMIR, provided its shields were down far enough. The krogan would have to wait until the smoke cleared to see the fruits of his explosive labour; Partinax couldn’t give him hell about using explosives when they were landing inside the base, could he? It’s not like the entire tunnel was going to come down without a direct impact, right?

Speaking of explosions…

A series of grenades were returned, possibly thrown even before Rykarn took aim, and landed around the group. There wasn’t much time from his position to pick the grenades up and throw them back, which also seemed like a great way to lose an arm, but there was another option the krogan had.

Nearby were two of the critically wounded Cerberus soldiers he’d taken down, and dropping his grenade launcher, Rykarn hurried to where they lay a few feet away, grabbing one by the collar and ammunition belt, hurling him over to land on one of the rapidly blinking grenades, followed quickly by the second. Their bodies and armour would absorb most of the impact. It turned out the prisoners were useful, after all. There wasn’t much time left before the remaining grenades detonated, so Rykarn hoped that maybe one of the biotics would be able to push them back towards their senders.

"I CALLED OUT A PERFECTLY GOOD WARNING YOU A,- ... huh." Vella had initially intended to give Ellis a full retaliation across the radio at his outrageous accusation. However, she lost track of what she was supposed to say when she saw Ellis; for lack of better words; do his bloody work with the Cerberus operatives, before the smoke completely obscured him and she lost track of him.

"Were we not supposed to like... incapacitate the enemy?"

Vella pondered for a moment, finding a rift between what Aegon had said, and what was actually happening.

No matter! She was a soldier, she did as ordered by her superiors! Loyalty was one of the main fundamental tenets of the Lance of Light! It was what made the Division superior to all others in the face of overwhelming enemy fire or odds, and she was not about to break it, even if the command had been given by someone outside of the Division's leadership!

However, she suddenly snapped back to the battle as a new threat arose!

Cerberus had launched a coordinated volley of grenades at them. They were spread enough that Vella felt confident her defenses could handle one or two of them, but whether the structural integrity of the cave could hold them was another question entirely!
Her first instinct was to send them back at their senders, but that would conflict with both Aegon's no kill order, and have a good chance of actually killing Ellis!

"I have to do this the hard way - no way around it!"

As Rykarn was about to throw one of the Cerberus operatives ontop of one of the grenades, he would suddenly notice a blue tint surround it, as it began to buck and bop along the ground as it suddenly slithered between the Krogan's feet and flew off behind him! This was shortly followed by the rest of the grenades, as they were being hurtled by biotic force towards the middle of the room; their red lights blinking frantically as they rapidly neared detonation! However, as the grenades met in the center of the room, they would suddenly be encased in a stasis field - temporarily frozen in time in a white, opaque bubble.

"Erecting a Biotic Barrier, requesting biotic assistance!" Vella radioed over the intercom as she had attached her rifle to her breastplate and turned all her attention towards the stasis field, preparing to erect a biotic barrier around it.

After a few seconds, the stasis would wear off. Vella doubted her barrier alone could fully stop the simultaneous explosion of more than half a dozen grenades, but as long as it could mitigate the destruction enough to prevent a cave-in, that was all she needed. Although she personally considered herself above any other would-be biotic in this party given her Asari heritage, she could not afford any chances with this, and so privately hoped some of the biotics in the squad would help. Barriers were one of the fundamental techniques taught in the division, and she knew well that they performed much better when reinforced by multiple biotics!

"Reinforce my barrier!"

This certainly was different from how usually battles would unfold for Salissa. She tended to fight mostly with human companions so the way this cerberus squad was decimated en mass was something she rarely got to see. Usually it would be only her who goes full close quarters combat, but with the Krogans it was actually fun. That said while the first squad was taken care of easily enough, what followed afterwards gave her a pause for thought when a frikin YMIR mech showed up to back up all the guardians, LOKIs and the centurion.

Luckily her current group had people with pretty decent judgment as biotics went off to deal with the guardians. Following that there were a lot of mechs being destroyed, guardians being taken care of and even the YMIR was taking some heat, but frankly that monster of a machine could easily take some more. The heavy mech was designed for this kind of situation. At first Salissa was about to go with moping the remaining enemy units, she realized that Vella was going for a solution to the grenades problem. She'd be a little bit of a target while focusing so Salissa quickly took position.

She dashed over, taking position in front of her with her shield angled to the side as she pulled her revenant also. Now she could fire and provide protection to a point at least. The machinegun came to life with a hum as it unfolded and the indicator for loaded ammo activated. It was set to her more favorite Explosive rounds.” Opening suppression fire on the YMIR!” She called as the rifle finally started it's defining roar and a hail of bullets was being unloaded in the YMIR's direction to distract it from the biotics' display and it's origin.

The explosions on impacts started right away as the exploding rounds crossed the short distance in but a moment. Moment later she also activated the adrenaline rush, to buy herself additional time to aim and to well go into full defense in case of need.

Tiberius had moved up with Aegon and Vella, he was currently using a fallen support pillar as cover the best he could, which for someone the size of him he had to almost lay down against it. Now if this pillar was still upright it would be perfect for him, gripping his Phaeston he pied around the corner and opened up with two small bursts on a pair of Cerberus assault troopers that had gotten quite close to him, both bursts hit there mark and the troopers when down clutching the wounds on their legs, it was more to disable them than to eliminate. Beyond them the Turian watched Ellis completely eradicate a guardian before being consumed by the smoke, shaking his head slightly Tiberius had the look if distaste hidden behind his black visor, the thought of him being Ex-Cerberus still bothered him that and the fact he didn't seem to follow order at all.

"Erecting a Biotic Barrier, requesting biotic assistance!" He heard Vella call out over the comms, "On my way" He called before getting up and moving closer to Vella, he noted the lack of cover "Spirits, Gonna have to risk it" he muttered as he neared and found some firm footing as he stopped out in the open of the enemy view. A blue hue formed around him before he cast a barrier around himself for extra protection, while casting a second around Vella's barrier to reinforce it. Tiberius watched as Rykarn took out what looked to be a grenade launcher and begin to fire it into the crowd Cerberus, he could only imagine the destructive power of a weapon like that 'I have to get me one of those' he thought as a grin formed slightly on his face.

"Barrier Reinforced" He called out and with that didn't take long before he started to feel the affects as he breaths quickened, one barrier was not really a problem for him but two was slowly proving to be a bit of a challenge as he felt his energy drain away from him 'Come on detonate already' He thought as then the grin he had faded as he watched the YMIR mech come into his view 'Great, just what I needed' he thought than braced himself slightly as it's mounted rotary cannon began to opened up onto the barrier around him. He could only hope it would stop and reload or be taken care of by the time he would be forced to drop his barrier, as he currently concentrated on keeping both barriers up. "We need to take that thing out!" he called out over all his teams channels.

My colleagues, my kills.

Ellis smiled as he gripped the corners of his shipping container. His fingers were strong, and left crinkled handprints in the alloy. His mind was strong, too, and summoned all the will Ellis could employ, his hands covered, concealed in shells of darkness. He lifted. This crate was heavy, too heavy for his hands, but not too heavy for his mind.

He gathered all his strength, and prepared to Throw it.

The YMIR roared overhead, synthesized scream rendering the constant machine gun fire nearly inaudible.

Those Xenos are lucky they're on our side.

I thought we were on their side.

See those bodies? You used to be on their side.

Good point. Maybe I'll just be a professional traitor.

Heh heh, that's not a- heh heh real job heh heh...

Then I'm an entrepeneur.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

"We need to take that thing out!" The flanging voice of a turian. Ellis' HUD denotes the voice as belonging to Tiberius, the heterochromic biotic. Begrudgingly, he admits to himself that the Turian is right, as he hoists the shipping crate onto his knee. He could lift it with his biotics, but he needs to store his strength. His servos whine as he lifts, higher, and higher. The dark matter he gathers has become a black shell over the container. The enemy mech is still distracted.

"This one's mine!"

He prepared himself,and stretched, and pulled, and bent the energy around the container. He could feel it tensing, like a rubber band. Then it snapped.

The container shot like a bullet, and Ellis shouted a private joke that maybe none other then he now remembers: "Catch!"

Metal screamed on metal, and the static screech of the Mech overhead was playing hell with Ellis' speakers. He could feel his suit starting to overheat again, and, struggling to reload, shouted "Cover me!" as he rolled toward fresh Cerberus bodies, hoping to hide himself while he cooled down.

The YMIR wasn't dead, but it was as open as any target could ever be.

"KILL IT, AIM FOR THE HEAD!"

He was already starting to sweat, and his vision flickered a bit here and there, and the raging YMIR wasn't helping. He cursed himself again for losing his weapon, fought to keep his focus on changing his heat sinks. Exhaustion wracked his body. The last shot took a lot out of him. "NERO, high... Caloric supplement. Administer until... Vitals stabilize." His vision blurred, and he struggled to retain consciousness, as he knelt among the corpses of his former colleagues.

The battle below had come to a close, with no casualties or injuries sustained on their side - Ellis seemed to have a malfunction of some sorts, but quite frankly he did not care what happened to him.
Overall their efficiency seemed to be quite surprising, as they had easily dispatched their foes within moments of combat being engaged.
The turian gave out more orders and put Giles on overwatch... again...
There was limited fun to be had being a mile away from the action, whilst he did enjoy the chaos he could sow with nought but a single round, there wasn't anything quite like using his array of explosives up close - "Danger close" the humans called it, they seemed to have a word or saying for everything.

As the rest of the team moved up on the Cerberus facility Giles loaded in his next shot, he loved this bit, the mechanical and jarring movements needed to make that released the spent thermal clip, the clip itself pinging out with a metallic ring leaving behind a trail of steam from its white hot body.
Truly beautiful, in its own way...

Giles frowned to himself after that thought and action... it was exactly that line of thinking that brought the Artist out, and given the gravity of this mission, that would and could not happen.
His medication was still in effect and he had a backup vial in his satchel so he should be okay.
Gilvert rammed the next clip into his rifle and peered down the scope once more to look at the door where the vanguard was amassing. It was in that moment the real shit hit the fan, several mechs as well as Guardians came out of the facility ready to meet the assault team.
That was more than enough mandate to kill everyone of them, this "political party" was clearly in deep with Cerberus in order for them to receive such a large garrison as this.

Then he seen it, the large YMIR mech that laid behind the enemy garrison, he knew how to deal with these, and his rifle... it was designed for this moment.
Thankfully as the battle waged on the mech sustained damage, as well as its kinetic barriers being totally destroyed.
The Cerberus turncoat screamed to shoot the mech in the head, but Giles needed no order or aid in knowing what he had to do.
Gilvert breathed in, pushed the stock of his rifle close to his shoulder, pushing it in for a firm grip.
An explosive round was loaded, his scope firmly affixed on its head, the humans have a saying that lightning never strikes in the same place twice, well, on this occasion it would.

He pulled the trigger and his rifle caused thunder to roll through the tunnel once more- he was so entrapped in the moment he didn't even need to cover his ears, the round blazed through the tunnel and pierced straight through the YMIR mechs head causing it to explode violently in a cascade of shrapnel and electronics.
The mech fell on its knees, arms slumped in an oddly organic reenactment of losing ones head, then the telltale glistening on its core began to occur, a slowly increasing beep began to emit through the tunnel, seemingly overshadowing the firefight that was occurring.
Everyone knew what was going to follow.

With a calm efficiency, Skarr replaced the clip of his Claymore Shotgun with standard rounds, and then holstered the weapon. He retrieved his M-15 Vindicator Assault Rifle and held his massive frame just behind the cover of the installations walls. The force approaching them was formidable, especially the greater YMIR mech in the back. In his mind, the Veteran was already planning on his assault forward. He could already see his bullets dispatching Cerberus operatives and lesser mechs in his mind's eye, but just as he was about to make such deducations a reality...

One thing he did not count on was his allies. The young Krogan Rykarn seemed to be doing well for himself, and while Skarr would not have preferred him to be using such tactics, sometimes he supposed it felt nice seeing a fellow Krogan in action. In fact, they could work off one another, and he decided it would be effective to switch tactics and work off his fellow Krogan's aggression. He would charge once those grenades had detonated.

Unfortunately, his strategy had to change once again, once all grenades in the room were biotically placed in the center of the fray via the Asari, and Skarr knew charging forward was near suicide, if not actual suicide. He sighed, and reached for his hammer. Perhaps he could salvage the situation. He did not have the biotic know how to help the Asari in her endevour, but perhaps her placement of the grenades could help him and the team.

He poked his head out to get his bearings straight, deducing the location of the grenades and the floor. If he could hit it in the right area...Without further delay, the Krogan leaped from cover and slammed his hammer into the ground in what he believed was a focal point in the ground. Suddenly, biotic power erupted from the ground thrice before it erupted directly beneath the grenades. His calculated attack was meant to shove the grenades toward the enemies, especially the large mech in the back.

_{Staff Lieutenant Jake Anderson}

The infiltration team quickly proved just why it was that the Spectre’s has searched them out, systematically taking the Cerberus assault team apart with surgical precision, and not a little panache. Anderson almost felt privileged to watch it, thinking that even the N7 Special Ops team he had led during the war would have been hard pressed to emulate such a speedy take-down. He stepped out of his cover as Sicaria dropped the last of the troopers, using the lull in the fighting to eject the spent thermal clip from his Valkyrie and to slot in a fresh one.

"Still have your doubts about me?" Asked Sicaria, a shit-eating grin painted across her bloody face – when she got injured, the Spectre just didn't know – and Anderson briefly wondered how Aegon would respond to that. Probably threaten her with charges. Good thing for the Turian, he wasn’t Aegon.

“I never doubted your skills, Velinian. If I had you wouldn’t be here.” He responded with a crooked grin, It wasn’t a direct answer, but he’d leave it to her to decipher the meaning behind his words.

Away in the distance it sounded like the main battle was beginning to wane. Seemed like Cerberus just didn’t have the forces to contend with two Krogans and a handful of powerful biotics. What a surprise. Thinking that the area was under control, and that the two Turians had a handle on the scientists, the Spectre approached their hacker.

“Hey Rayes, you alright? Not hit or … ” a blaring of klaxon horns stole from him the chance to finish the sentence. Casting around quickly for what may have caused the noise, he spotted one of the scientists, a middle-aged Caucasian man with a grey specked beard, who had hauled himself up to one of the terminals while the team’s attention had been elsewhere. Even without knowing yet just what it was the man had done, Anderson knew it wasn’t good. After all, you didn’t use alarms like those to announce the lunch hour.

“Turn it off!” He yelled at the scientist, though whether the man struggled to hear him through the blaring racket, or through a wilful disobedience, the scientist didn’t actually switch off the alarm, forcing Anderson to cross over to the terminal and hit the alarm button himself. Blissful silence did not sound though. In fact, the sounds that replaced the blasting sirens was much, much worse, both familiar and horrifying in equal measure.

A ululating shrieking was sounding in the distance, the terrifying bastard child of a death scream and a berserkers roar, though an undercurrent of electrical feedback gave the clamor an otherworldly quality. It came from all around them, distant but steadily getting closer. Anderson felt a pit widen in his stomach, fighting back feelings of revulsion and the frightful recollections of half-remembered battlefields.

“What. Did. You. Do.” He demanded of the scientist, his expression cold and flat, his hands tight on the grip of his rifle. The sudden change in composure was startling, and obviously terrifying for the old greybeard, who began to stutter his way through a nervous answer, though with the shrieks closing in Anderson didn’t have time for the man’s stammering. He grabbed a fistful of the man’s lab-coat, and slammed him bodily back onto the computer desk, his free hand forcing the barrel of his rifle under the man’s bearded chin. “ENGLISH, YOU SON OF A BITCH! SPEAK IT!” It proved to be the incentive the scientist needed.

“The Husks!” He spat, breathless as Anderson’s hold was restricting his ability to breath, “I released the Husks!”

---

---

_{Aegon Partinax}

Despite everything, Aegon had to be impressed by Vella's inspired manoeuvre. Her pulse grenade coupled with her singularity managed to completely stall the Cerberus advance. The FENRIS Mechs, already staggering from an earlier explosion, short-circuited when the EMP hit them. They might have recovered if the subsequent singularity and frag grenade explosions didn't turn them into a roiling stew of circuity and composite metals. The Guardian shield wall suffered as well. The biotic attack and Rykarn's grenade launcher decimated their ranks, severed body parts and viscera joined the macabre soup levitating in the air. Less impressive was Ellis' disabling at the hands of Vella's grenade. Aegon filed away that miscalculation for later berating. Cerberus changed tactics, electing to dig in and direct all their firepower at their position instead of charging forward. A smoke screen was thrown up and tracer rounds spit out of it like fireworks.

It wasn't the time to press the attack but that's exactly what Ellis did. Aegon tuned his helmet to infrared and caught the heat signatures of the Cerberus troopers as well as Ellis himself. Whatever Guardians survived the earlier carnage were put down by the Ex-Cerberus behemoth, who also killed a few troopers and went straight for the mech. Aegon cursed under his breath. The human was advancing on his own, robbing the team of the luxury of heavy weapons out of concern for his safety. And if he went down, he would force them to charge into a meat-grinder to get to him. Spiritsdamned amateur! Aegon would have to shout at him later, if the human survived. All he could do was try and give him covering fire, shooting tight bursts of rifle rounds at Cerberus to get their attention while Vella and Tiberius attended to the grenades. That was another miscalculation on Ellis' part. If he hadn't charged like a cowboy in those human western vids, they could have dumped the grenades right back in Cerberus' lap.

Luckily Vella and Tiberius' combined efforts saved the team from either dying in the blast or being crushed to death in a cave in, though he wasn't sure what Skarr's shock-wave was meant to achieve. Perhaps he meant to detonate the explosives early, in a controlled fashion, but as they were trapped under the other biotics barrier, it seemed to have little effect. As it was, most of the force of the grenades were absorbed by the barriers and the tunnel wasn't damaged further than having some loose bricks and dust fall. Salissa's suppressing fire drew the attention of the surviving Assault Troopers and the Centurion, who were down to nine men. They were in no position to throw further grenades and elected to stay in position and shoot back at the team, luckily leaving Ellis alone and trusting the YMIR mech to deal with him. Aegon was appalled however when he saw Salissa use explosive rounds from her inaccurate machine gun to shoot at the YMIR. At that range she could have hit her teammate, and if she did kill the mech, with those rounds the explosions would have taken out Ellis as well. He wasn't particularly concerned about the Ex-Cerberus operative's life but the reckless display rankled Aegon's sensibilities. He commed Salissa, "Check your fire! Ellis is up there! You're liable to hit him with that thing! Focus on the troopers!"

For his part, Ellis managed to disable the Mech's most powerful weapon, and the Mech was showing heavy wear and tear with it's shields drained and it's armor compromised. But he hadn't been paying attention to the duo of Engineers who had used the time to set up turrets. And he had just thrown away his cover. The turrets and their builders opened up while the YMIR reeled and the automatic machine gun fire and heavy pistols shot into his already damaged armor. Luckily for the man, the rounds didn't quite fully penetrate his barriers or his armor and into his vital organs, but many of his servos and joints were nearly scrapped by the rounds, and several cybernetic limbs were almost ripped off. He went down under the hail of gunfire and the turrets turned their attention to the rest of the team, their operators leaving Ellis alive to draw in his comrades.

The situation was only compounded in severity when Giles decided to shoot the YMIR in the head with his explosive round. The mechanic corpse started to glow, counting down until it exploded with force comparable to a Cain. In that confined quarters, Ellis and everyone else in the immediate vicinity of the tunnel would be killed. Cerberus recognized this, and the squad immediately beat feet, turning and sprinting down the hallway as fast as they could, ignoring Ellis and leaving the turrets to pin down the squad. The chances were they would die anyway, but no doubt they preferred to take a chance.

Aegon cursed inwardly, emitting a long mental blue streak that would have made his old drill sergeant blush. Gile's showboating might get Ellis killed and it was way too risky for anyone to go in and extract him manually with the weight of his armor and the turrets still operational. He resolved to shove his boot up Giles and Ellis' asses, and probably Vella's for good measure, should any of them miraculously survive this. He shouted out, "Biotics! Get Ellis! Someone get the turrets! Everyone else, cover!" He reloaded his rifle and ignited his jetpacks while activating his suits stimulants and time slowed down while he jumped into the air. He unloaded the clip into one turret, draining its shields before finishing it off with a concussive blast, he dove back behind cover as the other turret tried to tag him and he his heartbeat thundered like a storm while he waited for the inevitable explosion, hoping the biotics would draw Ellis away in time and hoping they wouldn't all be crushed alive under tons of concrete.

---

---

_{Staff Lieutenant Jake Anderson}

Anderson’s rifle-butt slammed into the scientist’s face, sudden and shocking, rocking the older man from his feet to send him sprawling to the ground.

“Always fucking Husks with you people!” He snarled, remembering that Cerberus had done similar during the war. Didn’t they ever learn? Those monsters were dangerous, and should be put down wherever they were found, not poked and prodded in hopes of finding some new, nebulous way of making soldiers more effective. He took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself. If he didn’t get control of his emotions he was liable to do something stupid. “How many?”

The bearded scientist was in no shape to answer, struggling to spit blood and teeth from the shattered ruin of his face, so Anderson directed his question to a pretty female researcher who had the swarthy looks of someone with a middle-eastern heritage. She didn’t answer at first, perhaps afraid that she would receive the same treatment her colleague had suffered. Anderson repeated the question, trying, and failing, to sound gentler.

“We have four sub basements, each filled with up to five hundred husks, mostly human but with some Cannibal and Marauder designations mixed in.” Andersons eyes widened at the figure, and he had to grab at the desk to steady himself. How had their intelligence-ops not given them any hint of that the facility was concealing something of this magnitude? How could they have missed something this big? It did answer one thing though. The tunnels around the compound had been conspicuously absent of Husks. Cerberus must have cleaned out the entire Underground system to have such numbers.

“Are you all crazy? Why would you let them loose?” He demanded, though he had a good idea of what the answer was going to be.

“Michael said that if we released the Husks we could use the ensuing chaos to escape.” The woman answered, looking to the injured scientist, apparently named Michael. Any feelings of regret that Anderson had felt for smashing the older mans teeth out swiftly dissppeared. The man was a dangerous idiot.

The screeching was uncomfortably loud now, and it seemed that at any moment the horde might spill into the room. Anderson knew he had to call a retreat now, before it was too late and that option was denied to them. However, he knew that if they didn’t deal with the Husks here, then they’d eventually make their way to ground level, where the innocent civilians lived, and they were in no way prepared to deal with a horde of this magnitude. Hundreds would be killed long before the Alliance Military would be able to take control of the situation. He couldn’t let that happen. Wouldn’t let it. The lives of his team weren’t worth those of all the people living above, completely unaware of the danger beneath their feet. He took a few moments to formulate his plan, before dragging the female researcher towards the workstation where Michael had released the beasts.

He instructed her to shut and lock the back-doors that the infiltration team had used to get into the facility, ensuing that the horde only had one way out, that being through the entrance that Aegon and his team were currently assaulting. He then had her open every door that led in a direct path from the sub-basements to this room, and the room to the front entrance, while shutting and locking every door that led on a divergent path along either route, meaning the horde had only one way to go.

Towards the Task Force.

Opening the communication channel to the whole team, including Aegon and the assault squad, he gave a brief message.

“Katabasis, there’s been a development. This institution has been used as a Reaper research station, and now we have upwards of two-thousand Husks on the loose. We must hold them here, stop them gaining passage to the city above. Infiltration will act as a lure, and lead the horde to Assault’s position, there we’ll be able to hunker down and use the tight confines to halt them until reinforcements can arrive.” Short, and Aegon probably wouldn’t appreciate being left out of the decision process, but time was tight and he couldn’t afford to spare the Turian’s feelings now.

He hauled the scientist, Michael, to his feet, realised the man was still unsteady on his feet, and unlikely to be running anywhere any time soon, and so thrust him at Raye’s.

“That download better be complete, because we just ran out of time. Ok people, we’re leaving. Balak, you and Angel are acting point. Use the maps we sent to your Omni-tools and lead us to Aegon and the others. Slow and steady though, we want the Horde to follow us out, rather than finding any other exits we don’t know about. Careful though, with the amount of Husks in this place, I expect there will be packs of the fuckers cutting us off from our allies already.”

“Rol, Sicaria, we’ll be fighting rear-guard. Phalanx, you and Raye’s will be with the scientists in the middle. Keep them safe, and keep them from ‘disappearing’ on us. We’ve got plenty of questions for them when this is all over.” He cast a quick, disparaging glance at the Cerberus troopers, many of whom were still lying in pain on the floors. “Those, we leave to the Husks. They made their beds.” He wasn’t about to risk his people for men and women who had just recently tried to kill them.

While waiting for the team to get into position he contacted Alliance forces in the area, appraising them of the situation and begging reinforcements, while recommending they evacuate the immediate area. The reinforcements were promised, though may take up to half an hour to arrive. They kept tight-lipped on the evacuation though, and Anderson wondered what kind of omen that was. Not a good one, if he was to guess.

He was just stepping into line next to Sicaria and Rol when the first Husk burst into the room, wail ululating out, before it noticed the fallen, squirming Cerberus Centurion, quickly throwing itself bodily at the man, ripping at his armour until it’s flailing fingers managed to tear into the flesh underneath. It was presently joined by another Husk, then another, until before you could even say 'Reaper', there was over a dozen of the desiccated monsters, screeching and clawing at the screaming Cerberus Assault troopers, with more and more pushing their way into the room every moment. Anderson swapped his Valkyrie out for his N7 Piranha, feeling the heavy weapon unfold in his hands, his anticipation rising once more.

Don't think of Mam. These aren't the same ones that ...

The first of the Husks spotted him and his team at the opposite door, screeching a challenge before hurling itself forwards. It didn’t get very far before the Piranha bellowed it’s reply, razor shot tearing through the creature’s body to send it flying back in a bloody spray. The blast awoke the rest of the horde to his presence, and as one they began their screeching once more, before tearing towards the team

_{“Here we go.”} He muttered, pumping round after round into the roiling mass, giving ground with each shot, following the path chosen by Balak and Aria.

_{Collab with @MrDidact}

As the stasis field faded, the grenades went off in a powerful albeit muffled explosion, contained by the reinforced field from Vella and Tiberius.

"It should be enough, we,- ... wait, WHAT ARE YOU... ?!"

Skarr's strike would be the bee(or massive power maul) that broke the camel's back, as in the latter-mini seconds of the explosion the hammer would come in and rupture the barrier, causing both Vella and Tiberius having to jump to the side as the side of the barrier aimed towards the entrance to the underground complex exploded outwards, though fortunately most of the explosion had already passed, meaning that mostly hot air and debris flew upwards in a -relatively- safe angle.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

Vella shouted as she looked at Skarr with a confused expression from behind her mask, but she did not have time to wait for an answer before she became aware of a new development.

"Biotics! Get Ellis! Someone get the turrets! Everyone else, cover!"

Aegon didn't even need to say it. Vella had already turned around and could hear the alarming sounds from the YMIR as it began its self destruct sequence, and Vella knew from having read enough cheap Home Security magazines that a YMIR carried enough of a payload to level an entire block!

"By the goddess, what idiot destroyed its head?!"

Vella shouted out in frustration, but it was simple an expression of what she felt. Her real attention was instead on finding the figure of Ellis, which was remarkably difficult to spot amidst the slowly clearing cloud of tactical smoke despite his heinous bulk!

Spotting the darkened and half-charred husk of Ellis lying at the entryway to the complex, in front of the fleeing Cerberus yet still very much in the sights of the turrets, Vella groaned as she rushed back to her squatting position behind her heavy concrete cover and launched her arm forward, using a lift ability on Ellis' currently inoperable shell!
She gritted her teeth, muscles and mind straining alike from the effort of manipulating the mass of Ellis' body! Yet the pain of exertion did not cross her thoughts. Years of training and countless hours had made her numb to most complaints her body had to offer. The Path of the Attacker; the favored training program of the Lance of Light; idealized the symbol of the relentless warrioress, never quitting, never giving up, knowing only one way, and that was forward; until either her enemies or her body yielded, whichever came first!

"Once this is done, Ellis, I am trimming that fat breadbox of yours down a few hundred kilos!!" Vella more growled than spoke in her intercom, a menacing fury in her voice!

As Ellis' suit slowly lifted off the ground, one of the turrets had already turned its barrel towards the drifting hunk of metal and opened full automatic fire; dozens of rounds already clanking against his heavy armor with varying degrees of effectiveness!

"Someone take care of the,-"

*BEEP**BOP**BIP*
*KABOOM*

Vella began to shout, before she suddenly heard the familiar bip-bop sound of her first recon droid; Aurora; as it suddenly came craning in from her rear view; it's blue light shimmering as it switched into a bright red; and it suddenly suicided itself into one of the turrets in an inglorious explosion!

"Oh... I guess thank you, Sil."

She privately thought as she just watched the smoldering heap where the turret and Aurora had just collided. But the good news would be brief, as another voice suddenly crackled across the intercom.

“Katabasis, there’s been a development. This institution has been used as a Reaper research station, and now we have upwards of two-thousand Husks on the loose. We must hold them here, stop them gaining passage to the city above. Infiltration will act as a lure, and lead the horde to Assault’s position, there we’ll be able to hunker down and use the tight confines to halt them until reinforcements can arrive.”

Vella felt a piece of her mind suddenly freeze up; her body continuing on automatically with manipulating Ellis; as the actual meaning of the message fully dawned on her.

"Husks. Thousands of them, huh?"

Behind her helmet, Vella's face would take on a more neutral tone. An almost serene look on her face, yet her normal bright yellow eyes had gained a strangely empty stare; as if she was simply staring off into space.

"Acknowledged... "

She simply replied, her voice having turned almost mechanical as her eyes suddenly raised towards the entryway; a deep, piercing focus now haunting her gaze!

Alria recovered from covering her eyes to see her fellows take advantage of the flashbang she threw and thanks to their quick and efficient work the Cerberus agents went down swiftly and suddenly. It brought a smile to her face and made her job a ton easier. Though with that issue neutralized Alria turned around to go back to attending to the...

It was in that moment thte sirens started blaring and it even startled Alria given how sudden the loud noise started up. Looking around for why the alarms were blaring she saw Anderson storm off to a stray scientist, just catching the last bits of the human pulling his hand away from a button on the wall. She didn't know what had started yet, but she did know that it was because of him. Then with Anderson's rough interrogation and cancellation of the alarms she knew what was happening. Husks... The thought of them made Alria's blood boil in her veins but still she kept a level head. She wanted to purge them all, but knew that deep down inside, letting that anger get to her would only lead to mistakes and those mistake could be fatal.

As the scientist explained their numbers and just what was about to come rushing their way, Alria knew this wasn't a fight they could win. Not in a position like this anyway. Then with the female Human making claims of mutiny and betrayal Alria had to honestly fight back the urge to just execute the scientist who gave them all this trouble, but with his age and apparent stature he may be useful later. Finally, with the whole story and Anderson swiftly coming up with a plan she had her new mission: lead the charge out of here and to the rest of the team to better engage and eliminate the Husks. This was something Alria could get behind, mostly because it meant she'd get to hurt some Reapers.

Taking the lead with the Batarian who went by the name of Balak she made sure to keep an eye on the exit of the room, pulling up her holographic display on her wrist gauntlet to give her a constant tactical readout of their path. That way she wouldn't have even the slightest chance of getting lost. Thankfully their path was short as well, having to only go through two hallways and two rooms before they'd be at the large gate that made up the main entrance to this place.

Though just as they were about to start moving the first of the monsters had showed up, leaping from the door and attacking a downed Cerberus trooper. Alria watched for a few moments as the alien hater was mauled, but of course that didn't last. Yet before she could get a show off Anderson took the first blowing the creature away and getting the rest to attack them. That meant the game was on. Alria shouted back to the rest of the gathered gang, "Come on! We're moving!" Then she started her advance, pistol drawn and aimed ahead with her knife out and ready to kill as well.

Thankfully the Husks were pouring in from a different door than the exit that Alria had mapped out, leaving them able to avoid going through the dozens of Husks that were rapidly charging after the crew. This in turn meant that it would be up to the rear guard to keep them back while their path was forged.

Before long Alria opened the first door to their first ot two hallways and inside the small and narrow pass was a pair of Husks lurking about and looking rather confused to be quiet frank. Alria took aim at the first, not even breaking stride as she fired twice, hitting high on the first Husk's torso which in turn made it's head almost detach from it's body. Needless to say it was dead. Leaving the other for somebody else with a gun she advanced and sure enough the other was handled.

This was when the group made it to their first of two rooms. Thankfully it seemed empty and also appeared to be a mess hall of sorts with several long metal tables extending with inbuilt stools on either side of the tables. Even with a few left over plates and utensils lying around to give it some atmosphere. Unfortunately, that atmosphere was quickly ruined when another dozen or so Husks came rushing out from the various entrances to the mess, including a few leaping down from the mezzanine onto the gaggled group below. That in turn gave the Husks a way to get right into the middle of the group to harass those in the middle directly.

Still though Alria knew that her team wouldn't let anybody down and so she continued to purposeful walk towards the next door. All the way to it she took swift aim with her pistol and by letting loose a series of controlled pairs dropped Husk after Husk to help keep more from making it too close for comfort.

Thankfully, this seemed to work and before long they had cleared the mess to their second of two hallways. This one was longer and had a L-shaped turn about halfway down, but still Alria continued on, not wanting to hold up the rest of the gang by clogging the hallway. Though it was this lack of a break that lead her to her first close encounter. Three Husks charged from the corner and one even through what had been a vent reached for Alria and Balak. The first Alria was ready for and by using her knife she delivered two quick slashes and a stab to end him in a second. The issue was the second who leaped from a high vent to latch onto her back. Though again her quick reactions enabled her to twist her pistol around and pump two quick shots into the monster's lower abdomen. That didn't kill it though, but before she could spiral around to toss and execute it it just went limp. Somebody else had finished the devil off and in a quick show of thanks she nodded to the group in general before she continued on.

That hallway leading clear into the last room, a cargo bay of sorts. With crates stacked high, containers lining walls, and of course stray machinery for handling it all, this room was perfect for an ambush. Thankfully though none came for the first few moments of entering the bay. All they had to do was make it across and though the load doors to be at the main entrance. Though at about the halfway mark, that ambush came as much like in the mess hall the Husks just seemed to come out of the woodwork. Running around and screaming, demanding blood they descended on the whole group form all sides and sometimes different elevations. Alria engaged any that crossed her intended path of travel through a series of attacks. Namely her pistol, but she also started to unleash gouts of fire that arcs and flew through the air to Incinerate her intended targets. In this room there was too many as they had to many ways to attack from. "Move it! Run to the exit!" Alria called out, picking up her pace to a light jog as she still yet continued to blast, shoot, and stab her way through the crowd of killers.

Then before long and with more and more chaos spreading around them Alria called out over the radio, "Friendlies coming out!" Assuming that they got the message about the Husks and their tactical retreat and that they'd be able to understand enough to not mistake them for Husks and open fire on friendlies.

Regardless, Alria rushed out the main entrance and after making it a bit of the ways towards the assault team, turned around to fire into the crowd of Husks, looking to help give her fellows a better chance. All while still navigating backwards to reach a more defensible position from which she could properly return a constant fire from. Though that part didn't take too long and before she knew it she was side to side with a Turian. From there it was just a matter of watching her weapon's heat levels and changing out thermal mags when the needs arised. As well as using her incineration capacitors to launch a fireball every so often. Thankfully, it looked like all of her team had made it.