Ellis' fortified and Pylon reinforced barrier made him almost invulnerable to the barehanded husks' onslaught, so long as he stayed within range. His Mattock was empty, so he swung it like a club, beating off hands as they grasped at the seams in his armor. The dust obscured everything.
His comms were damaged, and gave some noisy, crackling feedback as Sicaria again, stated the urgency of the situation.
Yes. The other mines. Likely, we've just made a tighter tunnel.
"NERO, what can you see?" A tiny loading circle appeared in the corner of Ellis' visor, spinning for only a moment before NERO responded, while Ellis wrestled a husk into a headlock, before squeezing it open like a pistachio.
"Ally Krogan returned safely. New Ally Human present. Allied casualties remain zero."
"Can you mark the mines? At least mark all electronic signatures in the-"
The entire tunnel lit up, each one of the husks' EM frequencies flooding Ellis' sensors. "NO, NO, no, don't mark Reaper tech." The room dimmed, now the only illuminated objects were a number of small circular devices, a number of boxes, no doubt generators, and a lot of light on the other side, where the infiltration team had penetrated.
Ellis targeted the highest concentration of them, hoping they would chain-react. He groaned. This was going to, frankly, blow.
"Eject the thermal clip in my left leg." The slot popped open, kicking the little red cylinder into the dirt. Ellis knelt, using his Mattock as a crutch, now one-legged as well as one-armed, to lift it up to reload. He thanked whatever God was up there that his leg had locked straight, and he was able to stand on it.
He lined up the shot, allowing NERO to assist as much as possible. He had enough juice for six rounds. Six rounds, one mine, through smoke and dust and who knows what else. "NERO, Cryo Ammo still good?"
Wonder how he got them on the ceiling-
"Verified."
"Then deactivate it."
"Affirmative."
Here goes nothing.
Ellis deactivated the safety, and gave it everything he had left.
CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK!
The bullets hit home, but home was not the Cain mines, as Ellis had believed. Instead, Ellis' ammo thundered against the lighting fixtures in the ceiling. Five out of six rounds clattered against empty stone and rusted supports.
One hit the fire suppression system, long out of use, but still connected, and the rain began filtering out the dust from the air.
Did it look like I did that on purpose?
You idiot, no one can see you.
