This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#TheBarn – September 15, 2015
Skythix suddenly felt her heart accelerate at the introduction of the stim injection. She sucked in a quick breath just in time to hear Briggs yell out in alarm. She looked over and saw him throw a biotic push in every direction but didn't spot the grenade immediately. Once he started dashing over to her side, she was afraid that he would get hurt on the way over. She summoned up a small biotic
sphere around her and walked a few steps out to meet Briggs a part of the way in hopes that her small shield would help deflect some rounds from him.
Jason glances to the north and gives a shake of his head. "Well, that settles that." he announces over comms, "We're completely cut off from the hangar from the explosion, so we'll need to find another way around after we retrieve the damn thing. We're really counting on you dropping the defenses, Bravo. Make it happen."
The grenade hits one of the crates, sticking to it as it is pushed away from Steve and detonating a moment later, freezing the crate and everything around it. The turrets meanwhile open fire at Steve an Skythix, making quick work of the weak barrier field. The crates displaced by Steve's biotic outburst provide some limited cover, meaning not all rounds find their targest. The Cerberus guard has now reached the door out of the hangar, rushing
through it and coming to an immediate stop as he almost runs right into Watty. He fumbles for his stun baton.
Watty turns and looks down at the tiny human. As the guard reaches for his weapon, Watty would reach down and clasp the man around the torso, with his head between his middle and index finger, if he is successful. If he is, he would begin to squeeze harder and harder. (Pip_Summers)
Steve barrels forward, hoping the combination of the barrier, his shields, and the cover provided by the cratesplosion is enough to get him to cover. "Get down!" he shouts to Skythix.
Pip sighs, looking back at the wreckage as she passes by the door on the way to Halisi, her ears still hearing the high pitched whine, though it is slowly dying away. "Are you okay?!" she shouts at Halisi from only a few steps away.
Skythix didn't have to be told twice. The moment her weak field dissipated, she had to hope her shields would hold out. She held out her arms to try and catch Briggs to pull him into her small cover.
Halisi struggles yet again to get to her feet, managing to get on her knees, still hunched over. She waves Pip off.
Pip nods at Halisi and makes her way over to Jason, hefting the shotgun which she retrieved earlier. She still feels uncomfortable using the unwieldy weapon.
Jason scowls at Pip. "Avoid anything we don't absolutely need to fight. Okay? Please. I want us all to get home." He lifts his weapon and begins the process of replacing the expended thermal clips. Once finished, he takes a position near Renala and starts down the eastern hall.
Renala would find herself in a hallway with a locked door on the left, and a corner going south. In the corner is also a window looking in over a room filled with computers, still staffed by Cerberus personnel. There are sounds of boots from around the corner, and soon enough a trio of guardsmen take up firing positions, opening up with their Locust submachineguns.
Pip spots the guards and very swiftly dives out of the way. Her weapon at that range would be useless, so she simply designates herself to a support role.
Viper clicks her tongue thoughtfully. "Urgh, think the AI is fighting back... we maaay have to force the airlock open."
Renala returns fire with her Locust as she moves out of Jason's way to backpedal out of the hallway to get in cover. Her shields take the bullets so far, but there's not much left of them.
Zaylus is about to take a step toward the airlock, but stops at this. He remains by the door they entered, keeping on eye on their backs.
Jason wastes no time in squeezing the trigger of his weapon, sweeping an arc of rounds down the hallway as he follows suit in backpedaling alongside Renala, hoping his shields will hold out long enough for his suppression fire to push the enemy back into cover.
Ilyna nods. "I don't see any other options, either," she says. "We have to warn the others if we're about to vent the atmosphere, though."
Steve lowers his center and barrels towards Skythix, taking her assistance in reaching cover. "Mother fucker! Where'd he go!?"
The exposed guards withdraw as their shields are stripped by Jason and Renala's fire, but the one on the corner remains, priming a grenade and hurling it down the corridor. He is soon joined by an Orcus mech which takes position in the middle of the hallway, opening fire at Jason as he makes his way to cover.
The trooper held by Watty has his life ended with a 'crunch', blood flowing out of cracks in the armor, coating the mech's hand.
Renala aims a quick throw at where the grenade lands, trying to move it down the hall to get out of their range. Her shields are completely down by the time she gets back to the doorway and takes cover by the doorframe.
Skythix crumples to the ground with Briggs now next to her behind cover. "I only saw him run to the south door. Too focused on making sure you got here." She said with a small smile followed by a sharp intake of breath with a pained noise.
Watty heaves his hand back and throws the dead trooper back into the hangar, blood splattering the floor as he does so. He then looks about for any metal plating or sheeting roughly the size of his torso. (Pip_Summers)
Skythix suddenly saw a body fly through the door she saw the soldier go through last. "I, uh, think I found him."
The grenade detonates just after being hit by the throw, freezing an empty portion of hallway, the metal coated in a thin layer of ice.
Metal plates of various sizes are abundant in the ruined hallway, most of them formerly pristine white.
Steve gives a couple nods, "Appreciate the help." he says in a huff as he looks over his suit for any more punctures. After a moment he follows Skythix' gaze to the discarded trooper and furrows his brow. "The fuck did that to him!?" he groans.
Watty would reach down an examine a few before finding one he deems appropriate enough to use as a makeshift shield. After a bit of improvisation, he has created a crude shield from the plating, holding it out in front of him, his armour being near the point of non-existent on his chest. He stomps through the doorway and quickly turns his attention to the closest turret, firing a sniper round at it. (Pip_Summers)
Jason focuses fire on the man with the grenade, hoping to bring him down before he can get rid of it. As soon as the Orcus mech makes his appearance, he quickly ducks back behind the doorframe opposite of Renala as his shields fizzle and pop. "Well, shit." he mutters as he switches back to disruptor rounds, "Bravo... You know... Any time you wanna kill the security..."
Viper activates her comms. "Whoever's still alive, we're about to blow a hole in the station. Emergency containment fields should kick in, but in case they don't... you might all be about to die and there's not much to do about it. Just thought I'd give ya a head's up." She pulls out an explosive charge from an armor pocket, turning it over in her hand with a thoughtful hum.
Skythix opened her eyes wide as a frankenstein of a mech walked through the door, coated in blood, burns, and exposed wires. "Spirits!" She exclaims, tapping Briggs on the shoulder. "It's Pip's fucking mech!" She shouted out. If the turrets choose to switch their attention to Watty then she would peek out of cover to assist him in shooting down the ceiling turrets. She heard the warning from
Viper over the radio but there wasn't much she could do about that other than hope the seals in her suit were good enough to keep out vacuum.
All of the turrets immediately snap to Watty, opening fire at the mech. The sniper round grazes one of them, taking out one of the two cannons on it, but they all continue to fire, soon bringing down the mech's shields.
Watty crouches down behind his makeshift shield, the bullets pinging off of it. His shields takes a pounding too, but the makeshift shield saves any bullets from striking anything vital. He quickly runs a combat routine through his processors and, popping his head and arm out, fires another sniper round at an undamaged turret. (Pip_Summers)
Halisi is struck by a few stray shots from the mech's harrier, and scrambles toward the benches, half-crawling half-stumbling. She starts pulling Vasquez into cover with no small effort.
Steve remains in cover as Watty begins to work over the turrets. He reaches over and places a hand on Skythix' shoulder, urging her back behind cover as well. "Let 'im take care of 'em. Ain't no point in gettin' our asses shot to bits for a hunk a' metal."
The makeshift shield is riddled with hole after hole and doesn't hold up for long, but one of the turrets is eliminated by a well-placed sniper shot. Watty would find himself gunned down if he remains in their line of fire.
Jason finishes swapping ammo as he hears Viper. "What do you mean you need to destroy it!? Hold on, Viper! Is there any other option? Something we can do from back here?" he says before swinging out of cover and sending a volley of rounds towards the mech. After painting the Orcus with disruptor rounds, he returns to his cover to give his shields a chance to recharge.
Watty discards his makeshift shield and exposes his back to the turrets, still in relatively good condition. He retreats back into the hallway and makes a beeline to the computer room that he was in previously. He looks around for a living Cerberus tech. (Pip_Summers)
The guard on the corner, ducks back into cover as he comes under fire, but as soon as it stops he's back out, firing his Locust. The mech takes several shots to its shields, and then has an arm blown off, rendering it unable to fire its rifle. It starts walking towards Renala and Jason. Suddenly a Cerberus woman in fatigues comes running around the corner while carrying a strange tripod. She places it on the floor and a metal rod shoots up. A
moment later a wave of energy surges outward - a shield pylon. The other two troopers round the corner once more, laying down supressive fire while the first reloads.
Pip leans against the wall, looking up at Renala. "What do we do?" she asks over the din of gunfire. She hasn't peeked around the corner, so she is unaware of the current enemy numbers.
Viper places the explosive charge on the door, setting it up with a few key presses. "Nope." She says over comms before starting to head back to where Ilyna has taken cover, joining her around the corner.
Skythix fell back into cover at Brigg's urging. "We need to get out of here then!" Just as Watty started to back out of the room, she tugged on Brigg's arm to urge him towards the door they came from. "Come on! While they're distracted!"
Zaylus steps around, into the corridor with the others. "Hope you're ready!" He warns over the comms to no one in particular, bracing against the wall.
Steve gives the turian a nod and, with some effort, he grabs onto the cover and pulls himself back to his feet, immediately bolting back towards the door. "Pilot, we're falling back but all you've got is turrets. The big guy is handlin' 'em, but even if he goes down you should be fine s'long as ya don't leave the shuttle."
Renala reloads and lean out of cover when her shields are at about half capactiy. She opens fire at the mech walking towards them in case it has a self-destruction thing going on.
Skythix attempted to throw up another weak biotic barrier as she stood up and made a mad dash for the door they came from. "Don't take chances with the hostages!" She shouts over the radio to Jasper.
There are still several technicians in the computer room, not of them looking very keen on fighting the battered, blood-covered mech.
Jason cusses loudly and pokes back out just in time to spot the new arrival. "Keep her safe!" he calls out to Halisi with a nod towards Vasquez. He changes levels, dropping to one knee as he swings back out and attempts to chew through the troopers' shields with his disruptor rounds, not targeting anyone in specific with his volley of suppression fire.
Watty walks over to the closest one and reaches down to grab him/her. But instead of crushing them, he simply holds them in his metallic hand, staring at them for a few moments. Once satisfied, he would walk back towards the hallway.
Viper brings up her omni-tool, smiling at Ilyna and Zaylus and simply saying "Might wanna hold on to something" before pressing the button. A moment later a powerful explosion rocks the area, sending debris flying down the hall - this is immediately followed by a whoosh as air starts to suck out through a small hole in the outer airlock doors. A moment later they blow open, atmosphere rushing out.
Ilyna takes her advice and holds on to one of the more solid looking pipes going along the walls. She manages to hold on once the pressure starts going out of the room.
Watty reaches the entrance to the hangar bay. He holds up the technician just in front of his chest and steps into the hangar, snapping his aim at the other undamaged turret and firing at it with a sniper round, hoping that the turret's recognition software wouldn't shoot due to the friendly being held in Watty's hand and in front of him. (Pip_Summers)
The reinforced shields of the troopers dwindle but hold just barely, and they all return fire at Jason with their SMGs. The woman that brought the pylon activates her omni-tool, trying to drain Renala's shield while she guns down the damaged mech.
Zaylus wraps an arm around the nearest wall fixture, bracing himself as the airlock doors are breached.
Renala keeps firing at the mech until her clip runs out, which is about the same time the shield drain hits and she simply gets back into cover unharmed as nobody is firing her way.
Jason snaps back into cover as soon as he's targeted, well aware that once his shields dwindle, his fancy schmancy Cerberus outfit isn't going to do much to protect him. "Can you knock out the shield generator, Jasmine?" he calls out, "I can handle the rest once it's out of the way."
UDI sounds out over the station-wide speaker system again: "Alert! Alert! Hostile incursion still underway! Detecting damage to multiple systems! Experimental countermeasures authorized!"
The venting of air suddenly stops in the area around the airlock, as a mass effect field forms near the wrecked doors, maintaining the atmosphere that is left.
Renala enables her omni-tool and tries to access the pylon's systems. "I doubt it," she says. "I haven't seen that kind of thing before."
Viper stops bracing herself, clapping her hands together. "There we go. Let's move!" She says before heading out towards the blasted airlock.
Steve keeps pace with Skythix, not stopping until they're well into the hallway they came from. Once he's out of the turret's line of sight, he slaps a hand against the wall, leaving a bloodied print behind. "Fuck... This place's defenses are brutal." he groans through clenched teeth. "Gimme a second to catch my breath."
Jasper is still breathing heavily, his heart racing from all of the action. He nods to himself a few times as he gets back to his seat and grabs the collected pistol from the guards. "Yeah-... Yeah...." he responds over comms, "I'll... I'll be fine." He makes his way over to the two tied up troopers and looks them over.
Zaylus releases his grip, getting a clear footing again before taking off toward the wrecked airlock.
Ilyna lets go of the pipe and follows Viper, raising her weapon in case they've got any defences outside.
The Orcus is easily downed by Renala's fire. The shield pylon however proves resistant to hacking. The supressive fire continues from the troopers, with alternating reloads, and the engineer now tries to send an overload surge at Jason.
Watty's tactic proves surprisingly effective - neither of the turrets fire on the modified YMIR as he enters the hangar with his meatshield, and one is successfully taken out by a sniper shot. Only one turret remains.
One of the hostages in the shuttle has awoken, but his hands are still bound, an as such he remains sitting on the floor. The other is still out.
Watty turns his attention to the last turret and fires another sniper round, still holding the human as a shield. (Pip_Summers)
Watty lowers his weapon arm and drops the unarmed human to the floor. He points back towards the hallway. (Pip_Summers)
Skythix manages a quick sprint even while injured into the hallway they came from. She stopped next to Briggs and leaned against the wall as well or else she would have just fallen over. "Yeah." She said between heavy breaths. She found her breath coming back quickly due to the stim. "I'd offer you a stim but I don't think it would affect you right."
Renala shakes her head. "These people know their tech," she says and shuts off her omni-tool's projection. She remains in cover while waiting for her shields to come back.
Viper continues out the airlock, walking over some remants of the blown open doors. They find themselves on a walkway going over the asteroid's surface. One path turns south, heading to another airlock, while another path heads east, to what looks to be a comm relay of some kind, and then onward past that to another part of the facility. The two Orcus mechs guarding the comm relay take a few steps forward and then open fire with their
harriers as the group exits the station. Viper swiftly dodges to the side, avoiding some shots and letting her shield take others. She then cloaks.
Steve puts a hand up, waving the offer off. "I'll be fine. Just-... gimme a second." he says as a shooting pain rockets through the back of his head. "We're out of the hangar, Blue. What're your orders." he asks over comms.
Jason 's shields shut down as the overload connects, but since he's still in cover, he just waits it out. "You're an annoying fucker, you know that!?" he shouts out towards the engineer, "How about you and your little friends just toss down the weapons so I don't have to gun you all down. Sound fair?"
Ilyna follows out of the building and raises her weapon once they open fire on the group. She takes a few shots to her shields. "You take out the left one, Grey," she says before opening fire on the rightmost mech with her pistol. She doesn't take cover as there's not any that's easily reachable.
The guards in Alpha's corridor rather suddenly stop firing, talking among themselves for a moment and then withdrawing. The engineer joins them, collapsing the shield pylon in a haste as they withdraw out of sight.
Zaylus grits his teeth, stepping up to Ilyna before he too opens fire, focusing on the mech indicated.
Jason looks very confused for a moment. He scrunches up his nose and glances over at Renala. "Did-... Did that actually work...?" he whispers, "Alright, alright." he says, swinging into the hallway, "Come on! Weapons where I ca-..." he pauses with a sigh as he realizes they've all withdrawn.
Watty turns away from the tech and walks over to the doorway to which Steve and Sky ran into. However, it is locked. So, he does what any polite british personality based mech would do... he knocks on the door. (Pip_Summers)
Steve straightens up real quick as the doors begin to lock. "For fuck's sa-... now what!?" he groans as he moves over to the panel and gives it a poke, not particularly expecting it to just open.
The Cerberus technician blinks, looking around the wrecked hangar and then starts moving towards where he was picked up from, slowly picking up his pace until he's running.
Renala frowns as she too heads into the hallway with a reloaded Locust drawn. "I bet they're setting up somewhere else," she says. "At least we'll have our shields."
Skythix perked up when she heard the doors around them shut and turn red. She dashed over to the door and tried to open it herself. "What in the spirit's name is going on?!" She heard a knock from the door that they came from and turned to look at it with a confused look. She shrugged it off before putting her pack down and reaching in for her favorite toy, a shape charge. "We're suddenly
locked in this room." She said on the comms. "Blow it open?" She turned her head to ask Briggs, waving the shape charge in her hand.
Watty awaits a response, but hears none. So, he looks around the hangar once more before trying to pry the door open, his servos clicking into overdrive. (Pip_Summers)
Jason continues down the hall slowly, keeping his weapon at the ready. "Alright, assholes. Don't say I didn't give you a chance." he calls out, sweeping the Confetti Maker from side to side as he progresses forward.
Pip remains in the room, keeping an eye on Halisi and Vasquez, leaving the fighting to the fighters.
Each of the Orcus mech's take some fire, their kinetic barriers flaring. They return it in kind, with accurate assault rifle fire. It doesn't take long for Viper to pop back up this time, appearing behind the mechs and overloading one of them, causing it to start spasming and then fall to the floor. The other however turns and opens fire on her, forcing her to withdraw to cover behind the comm relay as her shields fail to stand up for long.
Steve gives Sky a nod. "Security must be lockin' down doors." he says as the sound of metal-on-metal begins just outside the doors. "On second thought, maybe we oughtta put that on hold for now!" he says, pulling the second SMG from his thigh and taking aim at the door Watty's attempting to open.
As soon as Renala and Jason enter the laboratory corridor, the door shuts and locks itself behind them, separating the two from the rest of Alpha squad.
Ilyna 's shields hold off the return fire, but is almost depleted by the time Viper gets the mech's attention
Pip pulls back his hand. He stares at the door for a moment before winding up his arm, the servos once again clicking into overdrive. After a few seconds, he throws his fist forward at the door's centre mass, aiming to buckle it inward.
Skythix was about to put the charge against the door when Briggs turned around at the sound of metal screeching. She put the shape charge down and raised her new harrier rifle at the door. "Shit! What the fuck is trying to get through." Could it have been that mech? She didn't want to hazard a guess considering all the crap they've ran into.
Zaylus charges a new thermal clip before refocusing fire on the distracted mech. He is nearly down to his armor now.
Renala glances back at the closing door. "Fuck!" She jogs over to the locked door to their left, frantically tapping on her omni-tool to try get it open so they at least have cover.
The door buckles a bit, but the manuver likely causes further harm to the joints of the critically injured mech.
Skythix felt her heart skip a beat when the door pounded in front of them. Her eyes opened wide and and she reached down to pick up the shape charge again. "Fuck it! I'm not waiting to find out!" She placed the holder and then the shaped charge against the door they were next to. "Back up! Fire in the hole!" She backed away from the door and once Briggs was clear she would detonate it.
The security mech is struck by the throw, flying hard against the comm relay and dropping its rifle. It clumsily stands up properly again, reaching down to pick up the rifle just before having its head blown off by a shot from Zaylus' hand cannon.
Pip jumps as the door locks, sound now having returned to her. She springs up and tries to override the lock, clearly not comfortable being sperated from friendly combatants.
Renala finds her attempts to open the door are being actively countered, likely by the station's AI. She is met with no success.
Watty backs away from the door, shaking his hand and stretching out his joints in a mimic of human actions. His arm, whilst being relatively intact beforehand, is now rather stiff and slower than usual. Dejectedly, he sits down on the floor a good distance away and simply waits, unable to really do anything at this point. (Pip_Summers)
Steve groans loudly. "Fine! Fine! Just do it!" he says as he backs away from the placed charge, putting himself in the opposite corner and hunkering down.
Jason 's head snaps back towards the door, but he quickly returns his attention to their front, expecting an ambush. "The doors just shut on their own." he reports back to Pip, "Just keep your shit together out there. If we hold positions, hopefully the doors will unlock once Bravo reaches their destination."
Viper emerges from her cover, nodding at Ilyna and Zaylus. "Nice. About time we got here. Cover me while I handle this, yeah?" She moves to the control panel for the comm relay, immediately starting to type.
Renala sighs and disables her omni-tool. "We need to get to the corner before they come back, boss," she says. "Something's keeping the doors locked. Probably by the AI."
Zaylus ceases fire as the last shot connects in a very satisfying manner. He steps out, meeting with the others at the far end as Viper goes to work.
Pip | "Okay...", she responds over the comms to Jason. She looks up at Halisi and shakes her head. "The way to the hangar is blocked. We can only go that way," she says as she points to the door behind Halisis.
Ilyna places her pistol against her armor magnetically before hurring over to VIper's posiiton. Once there, she picks up one of the mechs' assault rifles and reloads it.
Halisi glances over her shoulder. "I'm not sure I sh-..." She's interrupted as the invisible BDSM enthusiast decloaks, next to her, punching the doctor biotically in the chest and sending her flying across the room yet again.
Pip yelps and backpedals to the door, her back crashing against it. "No!" she cries as Halisi flies across the room.
Jason gives Renala a nod and rushes forward, eager to take a defensive position before they can be cornered. "It's gonna be fine!" he says over comms, hoping to calm the two on the other side of the door, "Just take a defensive position and shoot anyone in Cerberus duds that isn't us!"
Skythix points through the blown open door, "Lets go!" She charges through the newly opened door with her rifle raised to make sure there aren't any combatants on the other side.
The Phoenix commando tilts his head, a grin on the only visible part of his face as he sidesteps to get a clear view. When Pip begins firing his barrier flares and weakens, but he lashes out with one of his whips, trying to yank her in.
Steve gives Skythix an amused nod. "Alright then..." he says as he stands back up and continues towards the fresh new doorway, keeping both SMGs raised despite the pain in his shoulder. "On our way to your position, Blue!" he announces.
Jasper raises the pistol at the awakened Cerberus trooper. "Now... Don't you go gettin' any ideas..." he says, his words a bit shaky, "Just stay where ya are, understand?"
Pip throws herself to the side, barely dodging the whip as it grazes past her fatigues. She scrambles to her feet and turns, firing a wild shot as she runs as freaking fast as she can.
Ilyna checks the assault rifle over with her omni-tool, trying to determine whether it'll let her use it without firing to test that fact. "We're trying," she responds over the comms.
The Phoenix operative doesn't bother chasing after Pip, instead walking towards Halisi on the floor, whips still extended and sparking as they drag across the floor.
Watty 's head snaps up. He's already on his feet and running back to the obstruction in the hallway. Without a second thought, he starts grabbing an throwing whatever he can grab a hold of from the collapsed hallway. (Pip_Summers)
Ilyna nods to herself and aims the harrier at the other airlock, glancinga round to see if there's any other mechs around.
Pip turns back and sees the operative walking towards Halisi. Her arms shake and her legs tremble, fear and adrenaline gripping her heart. She gulps. She drops the shotgun and activates both of her omni-tools. She fires off two overloads at the operative. "Fight someone who can fight back, you cunt!" She screams.
Jason takes a position at the corner, peering out into the next hall. "We're just on the other side of the door, just hold out until Bravo can knock the defenses down, alright!?"
The commando is struck by both overloads, his barrier going down from the first, and the second causing him to spasm uncontrollably for several seconds as the energy courses through his armor and body.
Skythix tries to open every door in the hallway but curses to herself everytime they don't open. "They're all locked!" She would continue down the hall way until she could spot the rest of their team. "This way!" She called out to Briggs with a motion of her arm.
Pip quickly primes another overload on each omni-tool, her cooldown ridiculously quick in comparison to other omni-tools. She fires off another two, advancing with each one, teeth gritted. "Don't! You! Touch! Her!" she screams, her eyes blazing with a painful memory, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
Upon peeking around the corner, Jason would find that the corridor is empty aside from a ceiling turret with immediately targets him and winds up.
Steve follows right behind Skythix, often glancing back behind them to make sure whatever was pounding on the door hasn't caught up with them. "Cavalry has arrived..." he mutters as he spots the rest of Bravo.
The Cerberus operative is quick to act when the first overloads fade away, smashing his whips against the floor and sending a biotic shockwave in her direction. As Halisi is there as well, she's sent flying yet again just as she begun to get back up.
Zaylus lowers his weapon as the pair comes into view, giving them a nod of recognition before turning to Viper at the panel.
As Ilyna had anticipated, the southern airlock opens and a quartet of Orcus mech marches out, with a trio of Cerberus soldiers following behind them, two armed with SMGs and one with an Incisor sniper rifle. The mechs open fire immediately while walking ahead and the troopers drop to their knees.
Jason pulls his head back into cover and gives a nod to Renala. "More turrets. We should be good to hold a position here until the doors open."
Ilyna drops the weapon and moves to Viper's position, deciding to let the others take care of the new arrivals. "I'll cover Viper!" she calls out over comms before a biotic barrier dome takes shape around her.
Pip may not be a fighter, but she sure knows how to avoid a bad situation when she sees one, what with growing up on the streets in poverty. As the operative raises his whips, she throws herself to the side again, this time rolling, rather than flopping on the floor. "Too much of a bitch to fight me fairly?!" she yells, adrenaline dictating her words.
Steve comes to a halt as he reaches the doorway, nearly falling over at the sight of all the enemies approaching. He pulls back to the doorway and plants himself against the frame. "Just doesn't end out here, does it?" he grunts as he begins to unload SMG rounds in their direction.
Watty looks up as the corridor creaks and groans. He stops pulling at the wreckage and steps back. He recalls seeing a door in the computer room, so he backtracks and makes his way inside the room with the dead Ogre, looking at the door on the opposite side. (Pip_Summers)
The Cerberus personnel in the computer room stay well out of Watty's way as he approaches the locked door.
Skythix stops before getting outside when she spots the large troop of soldiers coming the direction of their team. She takes pot shots at the approaching cerberus soldiers and mechs, making sure not to peek out for too long. "Multiple targets incoming!"
The Phoenix operative briefly gestures with his arm as if to protest. "That's uncalled for..." he mutters before lashing out at her again, if successful in grabbing her he would slam her against the eastern wall.
Zaylus curses to himself as the new forces pour outside. Somewhat panicked and without recourse, he takes cover behind the wreckage of the mech, taking with little protection it offers over being out in the open. Occasionally he leans out to take shots at the uncoming mechs, going for quality over quantity.
The shields of the mechs flicker from the gunfire of Bravo squad, but they are returning it in equal measure, still marching forward. The two troopers are advancing as well, using the mechs for cover. Meanwhile, the sniper has gone prone. A burst of deadly accurate fire strikes Zaylus despite his slight cover.
Pip drops directly onto the floor not at all elegantly and all of this fighting and such is seriously taking its toll on her, her actions showing signs of getting sluggish. "Too scared to fight an unarmed woman?!" She calls from the floor.
Watty turns away from the locked doors, striding back to the hallway. With no options present, he stomps back into the hangar and towards the shuttle. He reaches it and bangs his fist against it twice. (Pip_Summers)
The Phoenix agent moves towards Pip and smashes down one whip on each side of her, sending out dual shockwaves.
Viper inserts a flash drive into the comm relay console and continues typing. "Wow, they really don't want security down huh?" She says with a casual glance to the right.
Pip screams as she is flung like a ragdoll, crashing against the floor some distance away. She moans in agony, broadcasting over the comms. "Help..." she pleads. She doesn't want to die. Not now.
Zaylus takes the shot directly, knocking right back at the force on his unsteady stance. His shields are decimated, but his prone position probably stands to give him greater cover than an upright one. He groans painfully, unable to rise for a moment.
Steve stands up and rips one of the grenades from his belt, priming it before hurling it into the advancing crowd.
Ilyna glances back at Viper. "Just... be quick," she speaks through gritted teeth as she holds the barrier up against the incoming fire.
Jason frowns but remains near the corner. "As soon as the defenses come down, we'll be fine." he says. To himself just as much to Renala.
Skythix would wait for the enemies to react to Briggs' grenade throw before she summoned up her biotics. With a shout she threw a singularity sphere that would materialize upon impacting the front of the group.
As if on command, the smaller door near Renala opens, and an asari walks out. She's wearing a tight gray outfit and a sword in sheathed on her back. Upon seeing Renala her eyes start to fill with tears.
The grenade explodes just in front of the mechs, wrecking one of them completely and damaging another. The remaining two lose their shields - and a moment later they are sucked towards the singularity, floating around helplessly. The troopers escape this fate, opening fire at the doorway. Skythix is struck by a sniper burst as she pops out to summon the singularity.
Renala quickly turns towards the door and backpedals to not be in the immediate range of whoever's coming through. "The fuck are you doing here?" she asks, sounding confused. She doesn't raise her weapon.
Jason swings around as he hears the 'whoosh' of the door opening. "Stay back!" he calls out, sighting in on the asari with his weapon.
The asari lets out a single sob. "I'm sorry" she says before springing into action, kicking Renala in the stomach hard and firing her palm blaster at Jason.
Zaylus drags himself across the floor, staying as prone as possible as he reorients into a firing position. A spreading pain in his chest is soon adressed by a flood of medi-gel, a permanent grimace attesting to the discomfort. He shakily sets up his weapon, not wanting to waste the opportunity Skythix created with her biotic attack, taking a few careful shots the helpless mechs.
Halisi scrambles into a sitting position, typing on her omni-tool. When the Phoenix operative moves closer she unleashes a spray of supercooled material to flash freeze him.
Renala did not expect that as she lowered her guard, and is sent across the floor until the opposite wall stops her. She is moving a bit, but is not getting up, as the kick has knocked the wind out of her. Her weapon is sent on its way further down the hall.
Skythix just finishes throwing the biotic attack and is immediately hit by a quick burst. The first two shots destroy her shields instantly and the last one pings off the top of her helmet where most of the protection was, pinging off high into the air and knocking her to the ground. The initial shock of her being shot in the head kept her stunned, lying on the ground with her rifle dropped
Pip moans on the floor. Being double biotic shockwaved at pointblank range is really not good for your health, after all. She simply lays on the floor, squirming in pain. "I think somethin' broke...".
Steve pulls back into the doorway as he begins the awkward process of reloading his thermal clips, holding each SMG under his arm as he reloads the other. As soon as he spots Skythix hit the ground, he drops one of his SMGs and quickly works on dragging her back into the doorway. "C'mon, plateface. I ain't 'bout to let ya die yet..." he grunts.
Jasper would have seen Watty through the window, so he's not all too caught off guard by the large mech's banging. He slides the door open and looks the mech up and down. "Uhh... You might wanna go and help the others, big guy." he says, not particularly sure if the thing can understand him, or if Pip can hear him, or-... He lifts his hand and points down through the corridor the others ran through.
Another mech is downed by Zaylus' fire. The remaining one falls to the floor as the singularity collapses. Of the troopers, one is firing at the broken airlock and one at Zaylus. The sniper fires off a burst at Steve as he drags Skythix into cover.
Jason swiftly squeezes down the trigger of the Confetti Maker, sending round after round towards the new arrival. "Get up, Jasmine!" he shouts, "Swords. Whips. What the fuck is wrong with you people!? Why can't you just shoot me like a normal scumbag!?"
Skythix was so relieved to finally be able to lie down but something felt wrong. The piercing headache was trying to tell her that there was still danger but when her body started to move on its own she didn't resist. She groaned when she registered some kind of voice. She recognized it as friendly but wasn't sure who's it was. She simply let herself be dragged.
Watty shakes his head. He taps his shredded voicemodule as garbled speech screeches from it. It's barely understandable. "B-scccnfhbeen-LOckeD... T-ssccfffheekgn-ged." (Pip_Summers)
Steve takes the rounds to his right shoulder, his shields having long fallen during the whole exchange, but manages to keep a grip on Skythix until she's safely beyond the cover of the wall. He falls backwards onto his ass once inside and grasps at his shoulder as he lets out a pained wheeze. "How many more are left!?"
Jasper blinks and opens his mouth to speak, but decides against it. After a few awkward moments pass, his right hand slowly reaches for the door interface. A moment later, it slides shut.
The asari's high-powered barrier survives the barrage from the Confetti Maker as she dashes forward, a biotic punch going at Jason's chest before she unsheathes her sword.
Watty slips his hand in the way to tstop the door from fully closing. "CaN -ssccccggfhhffttt-ix mY voiC- skkkkeeeeght." (Pip_Summers)
The Cerberus trooper in the shuttle crawls away from the door as fast as he an, clearly terrified by the malfunctioning mech.
Renala teleknitecally pulls the Locust towards her and takes it, and fires a few careful bursts towards her, trying to avoid hitting Jason. She is still on the ground
Zaylus is forced back into cover as his barely recovered shields deplete, satisfied by the destruction of most of the mechs. He fumbles to charge the next thermal clip, his breathing labored as the pain squeezes his chest. He leans heavily against the mech, listening for a break in gunfire.
Skythix | It took a few moments for Skythix to realize that she wasn't actually dead but the pounding headache from the sheer force of the shot was what was deluding her. She puts a hand to her head where she was struck. She could feel a nice dent on her helmet. She seriously hoped it was still sealed. "W-what happened?" She asked while leaning against the wall to catch her breath.
Jasper presses his index finger against Watty's hand and gingerly attempts to push it clear of the door, deadpanning him as he does.
Halisi looks over at Pip. "I'll-... I'll fix you up... just... shoot him. Please...?" She points at the frozen operative, apparently not convinced he is permanently dealt with.
Jason is hurled backwards into the wall as the biotic strike connects. The Confetti Maker falls to the floor as he clutches at his chest, his eyes going wide at the sword. He reaches back with his right hand and pulls his Revenant free, holding the trigger as he unsheathes it, causing the first few rounds to burrow into the ceiling as he brings it to bear on the asari.
The trooper firing at Zaylus stops to reload, while the other one keeps firing at the airlock. The sniper is not firing at the moment. The last mech standing has managed to recover its weapon, and is taking aim at the turian behind the downed mech.
Steve rocks back and forth slightly in place as medi-gel is administered once more. "You took a hit." he says, "You alright? Suit seal up alright an' everything?" he asks, attempting to take his mind off of his own pain that was coursing through the whole right side of his body.
Jasper takes a couple steps back and off to the side. "Pip. Think yer robot is on the fritz." he says over comms, "He's talkin' gibberish and set himself inta 'doorstop mode'."
The ceiling turret opens fire at Jason when he comes into view, a barrage of bullets coming his way. The prototype phantom meanwhile cartwheels out of the way of the gunfire from the two, stabbing her sword at the shoulder of Renala's gun arm once she's close enough.
Pip moans. "He's pretty -gah - beat up." She checks her omni-tool, getting a diagnostic feed directly from Watty. "He wants you to try and fix- ah - his voice box." Pip slowly crawls over to the shotgun. Once there, she pulls out a spare thermal clip from her fatigues and shoves it into the gun. She pushes herself into a sitting position and aims the shotgun at the frozen man. She promptly
Renala tries to roll out of the asari's stab, but is too slow and end up taking a deep stab wound into her shoulder. Purple blood gush out of it before the armor manages to react and seal the wound up with medi-gel. She drops the gun, and groans in pain. A biotic shimmer forms around her.
Skythix struggled to stand up straight, clutching her helmet. She looks down at her omni-tool to check her suit's readings. "Some how, yeah." She said with a groan in her voice. "It must have ricocheted off the helmet." She could tell the fighting was still going on. "How many are left?" She asked, looking for her lost rifle. She realized it was past their cover so she drew her pistol that
The Phoenix operative shatters to pieces, the frozen armor collapsing to reveal the gooey inside. Worst piñata ever.
Zaylus leans his prone body out of cover at the first sign of respite, eyes widening as it's clear the last mech has targeted him and his hunk of cover. He squeezes off two quick shots before spinning back out of sight- a bit too quickly, causing him to stiffle a cry and tuck himself closer to the mech.
Jason instinctively brings his left arm up to guard his head from the turret shots, although his shield does a good enough job of keeping him covered as he rushes forward and back out of the sightline of the turret. Unable to get a clean shot with his Revenant with Renala in such close proximity to the attacker, he just continues to rush forward and attempts to rifle butt her in the head
The last Orcus takes a shot to the shoulder, losing its gun arm - and the gun with it. It stands around uselessly for a moment before starting to walk forward. The western guard now reloads while the eastern opens fire at the barrier. A trio of sniper rounds hit Ilyna's barrier as well.
The asari kicks Renala in the head in an attempt to knock her out before swinging around and slashing at Jason with her sword.
Steve gives a shake of his head. "I have no idea." he says honestly. He gives a pained groan as he reaches over and scoops his SMG off the ground, pulling it back towards him. "No rest for the wicked, though, right?" He goes to stand and immediately drops his SMG from his right hand. The damage was beginning to take its toll on him. He doesn't bother to pick it up yet, he just returns to
the doorframe and peers out quickly to get a look at the enemy numbers and how the others are faring. "Just a few."
Renala tries to roll away from the kick, but with the wall that way, that was not going to happen. The kick makes her helmet bounce against the wall. Whether it truly knocked her out is unclear, but she's not moving.
Ilyna pours more energy into her barrier to compensate for the sniper rounds, although the barrier is still standing strong as the others are taking the brunt of the fire.
Jason redirects his Revenant as the sword swipe comes his way, hoping to block the strike as he attempts to deliver a kick to her midsection. "Jasmine! Get up!"
Skythix sees Briggs having trouble. "You need help?" She said between heavy breaths. In all honesty, she was tired as hell and her wounds were starting to weigh on her too. "What's taking so long, Viper?"
Zaylus waits for the tattoo of gunfire against his cover, but it does not come, instead it becomes clear the asari's barrier is their target. He comes up to a knee, the sight of the unarmed mech boosting his confidence. Instead of taking aim at it, however, he targets the trooper firing on Ilyna, taking a few shots at him from over his mech.
The phantom's blade is blocked by the Revenant - at the cost of the LMGs functionality - it is cut halway through. The kick is countered with a dodge to the side, followed by another biotic punch, intended to slam him into the wall hard.
Steve gives a shake of his head. He raises his right hand to wave the turian off, but the pain shooting through his arm discourages him from following it up. "No... No... I'm fine." he lies as he leans heavily against the door frame and leans out, firing wildly towards the enemies attacking Ilyna with his SMG.
Jason forces the Revenant against the blade and wrenches it to the side as the blade slices through it, hoping to, at the very least, knock the blade out of her hands. His attempt comes at the cost of his defense, however, and the punch strikes him cleanly, slamming him back into the wall once again. A loud cough escapes him and he brings his arms up to his chest in pain.
Skythix shook her head in disagreement. They weren't going to be able to last much longer like this. She ducked under his arm and tried to shoulder his weight so that they could help each other. "We need living soldiers, not dead heroes!" She barked at him, hoping he'd take the help without more fuss. With her free arm, she held up her pistol and tried to aim the best of her abilities.
The asari loses her blade, but shoves Jason to the floor and aims the hand blaster at him in order to finish him off. She hesitates for a moment and speaks up: "I-... I-.. I can't... Please, I-..." her sentance goes unfinished. there is a loud pop and her head is enveloped in a bright flash of light. When the light fades only a burned-out skull remains as her body falls limply to the floor.
Viper yells out: "I'm working on it! I should be-..." She trails off as the comm relay suddenly pulses with light for a moment. "Got it!"
Jason brings his arms up to shield himself and waits for the impact. As he hears the asari's words, he slowly lowers his cybernetics just in time to watch the light show. "What the fuck!?" he curses, backing up against the wall. After a few moments pass, he uses the wall to help him back up to his feet and approaches the downed asari to make sure she's dead. "Rena-... Jasmine. Talk to me.
Renala makes a soft groan as she's slowly coming to her senses, but that's about all the response he's getting right now.
Pip yelps as operative is scattered everywhere. She thinks she's going to- yep, she's going to be sick again. She retches to the side, dry heaving as she has already vomited not so long ago.
One of the two troopers is gunned down, promting the other two pull a grenade and hurling it with stabilizers out at Steve and Skythix. The sniper fires another shot at the barrier.
Halisi crawls over to Pip, not bothering to get up yet. She puts a hand on the woman's shoulder while scanning her for injuries. "It's okay... we'll-... we'll be fine."
Steve continues to lay down fire, giving the turian a dry snort. "Been called a lotta things, sweetheart, but never a hero." His eyes go wide as the grenade is primed. Knowing there's no way for him to get out of the way in time, he pulls his arm from around Skythix and raises his hand in front of him, clenching his teeth through the pain that shoots through him. With all of the biotic energy
he can muster, he tries to redirect the grenade. Not in any specific direction, just away from himself and his allies. It's a move out of desperation more than anything else.
Pip has fractured a few bones, broken a rib or two and has a bleeding gash on her forehead. "I'm not... a fighter... I shouldn't be fightin' a fuckin' army..." she mumbles to herself. "Can we go home now?"
Jason looks around quickly and scoops up the sword. He gives it the once over before planting it into the asari's chest, just to be certain, before rushing over to Renala's side and taking a knee. "Come on! You gotta get up!"
Zaylus stays above cover, gambling with his recovered shields that the remaining forces will continue to focus their attention elsewhere. This time he bears down on the sniper, an admittedly more difficult target. He grips tightly on his weapon and squeezes out two careful shots while trying to keep as much of himself covered as possible.
Renala sits up. "My head," she mutters. "Feels like a fucking cruiser tried to land on it." The asari is quiet for a few seconds before adding, "Just... give me a minute."
Steve successfully redirects the grenade, causing it to fly right past the airlock and explode harmlessly midair. Meanwhile, the turian's shots miss, but the sniper stops to reload. The last trooper returns fire at Zaylus.
Jason assists the asari into a sitting position. "Yeah..." he mutters with a glance back towards their attacker. He rubs at his chest as it begins to throb. "I-... I don't know what happened." he says between breaths, "One second she had the drop on me, next second a lightbulb went on in her head." He tilts his head to the side, glancing over at Renala with a smirk, "Then it went off."
Renala looks over at the dead asari. "I shouldn't have let my guard down," she says, speaking slowly. "She seemed to... not want to do this." She sighs. "This is fucked up, Wo... boss."
Zaylus abandons this target, pulling his head down as more shots ping off metal. He leans to the edge of his cover to see how the rest of Bravo is fairing in the airlock, reloading meanwhile.
Skythix didn't know what to do. She knew that from trying to help Ilyna with the barrier before but that only made thigns worst. When Briggs tossed her off and redirected the grenades harmlessly she opened her eyes wide at the display of bravery. She pulled Briggs back to make sure he was still in cover, touching her helmet to his briefly. "Definitely a hero." She pulled back with a small
smile. She would then wait for the sniper's fire to stop before leaning out of her cover, letting out a primal shout, and throwing a large shockwave down the path of soldiers.
The shockwave anti-climactically fails to reach the soldiers. Awkward. The remaining trooper is however briefly distracted by the fierce warcry, halting his firing for a moment as he looks at the airlock. The sniper is busy picking a target.
Jason gives a couple nods as he stares at the asari. He grunts loudly as he once more climbs to his feet and goes to scoop up his weaponry, reholstering the damaged Revenant on his back and inspecting the Confetti Maker. "Yeah... I-..." he pauses as his mind struggles to put two and two together, "She had me dead to rights. She said she couldn't do it and then-..." he puts a hand up to his
Steve lets out a loud, surprised chuckle as his biotics actually come through for him, although his pride is quickly cut short as Sky tosses him back into cover. He leans back against the wall and attempts to catch a breath as he reloads his SMG. "Pull back!? Are the defenses down...?"
Renala starts getting to her feet after picking up her weapon. "She could have killed me, too," she says. "Sounds like someone put a bomb in her head and told her to fight their fight."
Ilyna nods. "I'll drop the barrier in ten," she says, though not over the comms. "Get ready to move back to the airlock."
Zaylus leans out of cover at the display of biotics, hoping to catch an easy target in its wake. He aims at the remaining trooper, squeezing out a few quick shots before pulling back, acknowledging the developing plan.
Jason furrows his brow and nods. "Sounds like it." Suddenly his eyes go wide as he seems to realize something and he tears back towards the door they came from, "Doc! Doc!" he calls out over comms as he checks to see if the door has unlocked, "In her head! Some of them have-... something in their head! A bomb or-... killswitch?"
Skythix suddenly felt her heart accelerate at the introduction of the stim injection. She sucked in a quick breath just in time to hear Briggs yell out in alarm. She looked over and saw him throw a biotic push in every direction but didn't spot the grenade immediately. Once he started dashing over to her side, she was afraid that he would get hurt on the way over. She summoned up a small biotic
sphere around her and walked a few steps out to meet Briggs a part of the way in hopes that her small shield would help deflect some rounds from him.
Jason glances to the north and gives a shake of his head. "Well, that settles that." he announces over comms, "We're completely cut off from the hangar from the explosion, so we'll need to find another way around after we retrieve the damn thing. We're really counting on you dropping the defenses, Bravo. Make it happen."
The grenade hits one of the crates, sticking to it as it is pushed away from Steve and detonating a moment later, freezing the crate and everything around it. The turrets meanwhile open fire at Steve an Skythix, making quick work of the weak barrier field. The crates displaced by Steve's biotic outburst provide some limited cover, meaning not all rounds find their targest. The Cerberus guard has now reached the door out of the hangar, rushing
through it and coming to an imemdiate stop as he almost runs right into Watty. He fumbles for his stun baton.
Watty turns and looks down at the tiny human. As the guard reaches for his weapon, Watty would reach down and clasp the man around the torso, with his head between his middle and index finger, if he is successful. If he is, he would begin to squeeze harder and harder. (Pip_Summers)
Steve barrels forward, hoping the combination of the barrier, his shields, and the cover provided by the cratesplosion is enough to get him to cover. "Get down!" he shouts to Skythix.
Pip sighs, looking back at the wreckage as she passes by the door on the way to Halisi, her ears still hearing the high pitched whine, though it is slowly dying away. "Are you okay?!" she shouts at Halisi from only a few steps away.
Skythix didn't have to be told twice. The moment her weak field dissipated, she had to hope her shields would hold out. She held out her arms to try and catch Briggs to pull him into her small cover.
Halisi struggles yet again to get to her feet, managing to get on her knees, still hunched over. She waves Pip off.
Pip nods at Halisi and makes her way over to Jason, hefting the shotgun which she retrieved earlier. She still feels uncomfortable using the unwieldy weapon.
Jason scowls at Pip. "Avoid anything we don't absolutely need to fight. Okay? Please. I want us all to get home." He lifts his weapon and begins the process of replacing the expended thermal clips. Once finished, he takes a position near Renala and starts down the eastern hall.
Renala would find herself in a hallway with a locked door on the left, and a corner going south. In the corner is also a window looking in over a room filled with computers, still staffed by Cerberus personnel. There are sounds of boots from around the corner, and soon enough a trio of guardsmen take up firing positions, opening up with their Locust submachineguns.
Pip spots the guards and very swiftly dives out of the way. Her weapon at that range would be useless, so she simply designates herself to a support role.
Viper clicks her tongue thoughtfully. "Urgh, think the AI is fighting back... we maaay have to force the airlock open."
Renala returns fire with her Locust as she moves out of Jason's way to backpedal out of the hallway to get in cover. Her shields take the bullets so far, but there's not much left of them.
Zaylus is about to take a step toward the airlock, but stops at this. He remains by the door they entered, keeping on eye on their backs.
Jason wastes no time in squeezing the trigger of his weapon, sweeping an arc of rounds down the hallway as he follows suit in backpedaling alongside Renala, hoping his shields will hold out long enough for his suppression fire to push the enemy back into cover.
Ilyna nods. "I don't see any other options, either," she says. "We have to warn the others if we're about to vent the athmosphere, though."
Steve lowers his center and barrels towards Skythix, taking her assistance in reaching cover. "Mother fucker! Where'd he go!?"
The exposed guards withdraw as their shields are stripped by Jason and Renala's fire, but the one on the corner remains, priming a grenade and hurling it down the corridor. He is soon joined by an Orcus mech which takes position in the middle of the hallway, opening fire at Jason as he makes his way to cover.
The trooper held by Watty has his life ended with a 'crunch', blood flowing out of cracks in the armor, coating the mech's hand.
Renala aims a quick throw at where the grenade lands, trying to move it down the hall to get out of their range. Her shields are completely down by the time she gets back to the doorway and takes cover by the doorframe.
Skythix crumples to the ground with Briggs now next to her behind cover. "I only saw him run to the south door. Too focused on making sure you got here." She said with a small smile followed by a sharp intake of breath with a pained noise.
Watty heaves his hand back and throws the dead trooper back into the hangar, blood splattering the floor as he does so. He then looks about for any metal plating or sheeting roughly the size of his torso. (Pip_Summers)
Skythix suddenly saw a body fly through the door she saw the soldier go through last. "I, uh, think I found him."
The grenade detonates just after being hit by the throw, freezing an empty portion of hallway, the metal coated in a thin layer of ice.
Metal plates of various sizes are abundant in the ruined hallway, most of them formerly pristine white.
Steve gives a cople nods, "Appreciate the help." he says in a huff as he looks over his suit for any more punctures. After a moment he follows Skythix' gaze to the discarded trooper and furrows his brow. "The fuck did that to him!?" he groans.
Watty would reach down an examine a few before finding one he deems appropriate enough to use as a makeshift shield. After a bit of improvisation, he has created a crude shield from the plating, holding it out in front of him, his armour being near the point of non-existent on his chest. He stomps through the doorway and quickly turns his attention to the closest turret, firing a sniper round at it. (Pip_Summers)
Jason focuses fire on the man with the grenade, hoping to bring him down before he can get rid of it. As soon as the Orcus mech makes his appearance, he quickly ducks back behind the doorframe opposite of Renala as his shields fizzle and pop. "Well, shit." he mutters as he switches back to disruptor rounds, "Bravo... You know... Any time you wanna kill the security..."
Viper activates her comms. "Whoever's still alive, we're about to blow a hole in the station. Emergency containment fields should kick in, but in case they don't... you might all be about to die and there's not much to do about it. Just thought I'd give ya a head's up." She pulls out an explosive charge from an armor pocket, turning it over in her hand with a thoughtful hum.
Skythix opened her eyes wide as a frankenstein of a mech walked through the door, coated in blood, burns, and exposed wires. "Spirits!" She exclaims, tapping Briggs on the shoulder. "It's Pip's fucking mech!" She shouted out. If the turrets choose to switch their attention to Watty then she would peek out of cover to assist him in shooting down the ceiling turrets. She heard the warning from
Viper over the radio but there wasn't much she could do about that other than hope the seals in her suit were good enough to keep out vacuum.
All of the turrets immediately snap to Watty, opening fire at the mech. The sniper round grazes one of them, taking out one of the two cannons on it, but they all continue to fire, soon bringing down the mech's shields.
Watty crouches down behind his makeshift shield, the bullets pinging off of it. His shields takes a pounding too, but the makeshift shield saves any bullets from striking anything vital. He quickly runs a combat routine through his processors and, popping his head and arm out, fires another sniper round at an undamaged turret. (Pip_Summers)
Halisi is struck by a few stray shots from the mech's harrier, and scrambles toward the benches, half-crawling half-stumbling. She starts pulling Vasquez into cover with no small effort.
Steve remains in cover as Watty begins to work over the turrets. He reaches over and places a hand on Skythix' shoulder, urging her back behind cover as well. "Let 'im take care of 'em. Ain't no point in gettin' our asses shot to bits for a hunk a' metal."
The makeshift shield is riddled with hole after hole and doesn't hold up for long, but one of the turrets is eliminated by a well-placed sniper shot. Watty would find himself gunned down if he remains in their line of fire.
Jason finishes swapping ammo as he hears Viper. "What do you mean you need to destroy it!? Hold on, Viper! Is there any other option? Something we can do from back here?" he says before swinging out of cover and sending a volley of rounds towards the mech. After painting the Orcus with disruptor rounds, he returns to his cover to give his shields a chance to recharge.
Watty discards his makeshift shield and exposes his back to the turrets, still in relatively good condition. He retreats back into the hallway and makes a beeline to the computer room that he was in previously. He looks around for a living Cerberus tech. (Pip_Summers)
The guard on the corner, ducks back into cover as he comes under fire, but as soon as it stops he's back out, firing his Locust. The mech takes several shots to its shields, and then has an arm blown off, rendering it unable to fire its rifle. It starts walking towards Renala and Jason. Suddenly a Cerberus woman in fatigues comes running around the corner while carrying a strange tripod. She places it on the floor and a metal rod shoots up. A
moment later a wave of energy surges outward - a shield pylon. The other two troopers round the corner once more, laying down supressive fire while the first reloads.
Pip leans against the wall, looking up at Renala. "What do we do?" she asks over the din of gunfire. She hasn't peeked around the corner, so she is unaware of the current enemy numbers.
Viper places the explosive charge on the door, setting it up with a few key presses. "Nope." She says over comms before starting to hea back to where Ilyna has taken cover, joining her around the corner.
Skythix fell back into cover at Brigg's urging. "We need to get out of here then!" Just as Watty started to back out of the room, she tugged on Brigg's arm to urge him towards the door they came from. "Come on! While they're distracted!"
Zaylus steps around, into the corridor with the others. "Hope you're ready!" He warns over the comms to no one in particular, bracing against the wall.
Steve gives the turian a nod and, with some effort, he grabs onto the cover and pulls himself back to his feet, immediately bolting back towards the door. "Pilot, we're falling back but all you've got is turrets. The big guy is handlin' 'em, but even if he goes down you should be fine s'long as ya don't leave the shuttle."
Renala reloads and lean out of cover when her shields are at about half capactiy. She opens fire at the mech walking towards them in case it has a self-destruction thing going on.
Jason cusses loudly and pokes back out just in time to spot the new arrival. "Shit! Well, as good of a use as any." he sighs as he reaches for his grenade and primes it. He swings back out as the stabilizer wings extend and whips his second and last grenade at the Orcus. "Get back in case it blows!" he urges Halisi and Pip, "Keep her covered!" he adds with a nod towards Vasquez.
Skythix attempted to throw up another weak biotic barrier as she stood up and made a mad dash for the door they came from. "Don't take chances with the hostages!" She shouts over the radio to Jasper.
There are still several technicians in the computer room, not of them looking very keen on fighting the battered, blood-covered mech.
Jason cusses loudly and pokes back out just in time to spot the new arrival. "Keep her safe!" he calls out to Halisi with a nod towards Vasquez. He changes levels, dropping to one knee as he swings back out and attempts to chew through the troopers' shields with his disruptor rounds, not targeting anyone in specific with his volley of suppression fire.
Pip walks over to the closest one and reaches down to grab him/her. But instead of crushing them, he simply holds them in his metallic hand, staring at them for a few moments. Once satisfied, he would walk back towards the hallway.
Viper brings up her omni-tool, smiling at Ilyna and Zaylus and simply saying "Might wanna hold on to something" before pressing the button. A moment later a powerful explosion rocks the area, sending debris flying down the hall - this is immediately followed by a whoosh as air starts to suck out through a small hole in the outer airlock doors. A moment later they blow open, atmosphere rushing out.
/me takes her advice and holds on to one of the more solid looking pipes going along the walls. She manages to hold on once the pressure starts going out of the room.
Watty reaches the entrance to the hangar bay. He holds up the technician just in front of his chest and steps into the hangar, snapping his aim at the other undamaged turret and firing at it with a sniper round, hoping that the turret's recognition software wouldn't shoot due to the friendly being held in Watty's hand and in front of him. (Pip_Summers)
The reinforced shields of the troopers dwindle but hold just barely, and they all return fire at Jason with their SMGs. The woman that brought the pylon activates her omni-tool, trying to drain Renala's shield while she guns down the damaged mech.
Zaylus wraps an arm around the nearest wall fixture, bracing himself as the airlock doors are breached.
Renala keeps firing at the mech until her clip runs out, which is about the same time the shield drain hits and she simply gets back into cover unharmed as nobody is firing her way.
Jason snaps back into cover as soon as he's targeted, well aware that once his shields dwindle, his fancy schmancy Cerberus outfit isn't going to do much to protect him. "Can you knock out the shield generator, Jasmine?" he calls out, "I can handle the rest once it's out of the way."
UDI sounds out over the station-wide speaker system again: "Alert! Alert! Hostile incursion still underway! Detecting damage to multiple systems! Experimental countermeasures authorized!"
The venting of air suddenly stops in the area around the airlock, as a mass effect field forms near the wrecked doors, maintaining the atmosphere that is left.
Renala enables her omni-tool and tries to access the pylon's systems. "I doubt it," she says. "I haven't seen that kind of thing before."
Viper stops bracing herself, clapping her hands together. "There we go. Let's move!" She says before heading out towards the blasted airlock.
Steve keeps pace with Skythix, not stopping until they're well into the hallway they came from. Once he's out of the turret's line of sight, he slaps a hand against the wall, leaving a bloodied print behind. "Fuck... This place's defenses are brutal." he groans through clenched teeth. "Gimme a second to catch my breath."
Jasper is still breathing heavily, his heart racing from all of the action. He nods to himself a few times as he gets back to his seat and grabs the collected pistol from the guards. "Yeah-... Yeah...." he responds over comms, "I'll... I'll be fine." He makes his way over to the two tied up troopers and looks them over.
Zaylus releases his grip, getting a clear footing again before taking off toward the wrecked airlock.
Ilyna let's go of the pipe and follows Viper, raising her weapon in case they've got any defences outside.
The Orcus is easily downed by Renala's fire. The shield pylon however proves resistant to hacking. The supressive fire continues from the troopers, with alternating reloads, and the engineer now tries to send an overload surge at Jason.
Watty's tactic proves surprisingly effective - neither of the turrets fire on the modified YMIR as he enters the hangar with his meatshield, and one is successfully taken out by a sniper shot. Only one turret remains.
One of the hostages in the shuttle has awoken, but his hands are still bound, an as such he remains sitting on the floor. The other is still out.
Watty turns his attention to the last turret and fires another sniper round, still holding the human as a shield. (Pip_Summers)
Watty lowers his weapon arm and drops the unarmed human to the floor. He points back towards the hallway. (Pip_Summers)
Skythix manages a quick sprint even while injured into the hallway they came from. She stopped next to Briggs and leaned against the wall as well or else she would have just fallen over. "Yeah." She said between heavy breaths. She found her breath coming back quickly due to the stim. "I'd offer you a stim but I don't think it would affect you right."
Renala shakes her head. "These people know their tech," she says and shuts off her omni-tool's projection. She remains in cover while waiting for her shields to come back.
Viper continues out the airlock, walking over some remants of the blown open doors. They find themselves on a walkway going over the asteroid's surface. One path turns south, heading to another airlock, while another path heads east, to what looks to be a comm relay of some kind, and then onward past that to another part of the facility. The two Orcus mechs guarding the comm relay take a few steps forward and then open fire with their
harriers as the group exits the station. Viper swiftly dodges to the side, avoiding some shots and letting her shield take others. She then cloaks.
Steve puts a hand up, waving the offer off. "I'll be fine. Just-... gimme a second." he says as a shooting pain rockets through the back of his head. "We're out of the hangar, Blue. What're your orders." he asks over comms.
Jason 's shields shut down as the overload connects, but since he's still in cover, he just waits it out. "You're an annoying fucker, you know that!?" he shouts out towards the engineer, "How about you and your little friends just toss down the weapons so I don't have to gun you all down. Sound fair?"
Ilyna follows out of the building and raises her weapon once they open fire on the group. She takes a few shots to her shields. "You take out the left one, Grey," she says before opening fire on the rightmost mech with her pistol. She doesn't take cover as there's not any that's easily reachable.
The guards in Alpha's corridor rather suddenly stop firing, talking among themselves for a moment and then withdrawing. The engineer joins them, collapsing the shield pylon in a haste as they withdraw out of sight.
Zaylus grits his teeth, stepping up to Ilyna before he too opens fire, focusing on the mech indicated.
Jason looks very confused for a moment. He scrunches up his nose and glances over at Renala. "Did-... Did that actually work...?" he whispers, "Alright, alright." he says, swinging into the hallway, "Come on! Weapons where I ca-..." he pauses with a sigh as he realizes they've all withdrawn.
Watty turns away from the tech and walks over to the doorway to which Steve and Sky ran into. However, it is locked. So, he does what any polite british personality based mech would do... he knocks on the door. (Pip_Summers)
Steve straightens up real quick as the doors begin to lock. "For fuck's sa-... now what!?" he groans as he moves over to the panel and gives it a poke, not particularly expecting it to just open.
The Cerberus technician blinks, looking around the wrecked hangar and then starts moving towards where he was picked up from, slowly picking up his pace until he's running.
Renala frowns as she too heads into the hallway with a reloaded Locust drawn. "I bet they're setting up somewhere else," she says. "At least we'll have our shields."
Skythix perked up when she heard the doors around them shut and turn red. She dashed over to the door and tried to open it herself. "What in the spirit's name is going on?!" She heard a knock from the door that they came from and turned to look at it with a confused look. She shrugged it off before putting her pack down and reaching in for her favorite toy, a shape charge. "We're suddenly
locked in this room." She said on the comms. "Blow it open?" She turned her head to ask Briggs, waving the shape charge in her hand.
Watty awaits a response, but hears none. So, he looks around the hangar once more before trying to pry the door open, his servos clicking into overdrive. (Pip_Summers)
Jason continues down the hall slowly, keeping his weapon at the ready. "Alright, assholes. Don't say I didn't give you a chance." he calls out, sweeping the Confetti Maker from side to side as he progresses forward.
Pip remains in the room, keeping an eye on Halisi and Vasquez, leaving the fighting to the fighters.
Each of the Orcus mech's take some fire, their kinetic barriers flaring. They return it in kind, with accurate assault rifle fire. It doesn't take long for Viper to pop back up this time, appearing behind the mechs and overloading one of them, causing it to start spasming and then fall to the floor. The other however turns and opens fire on her, forcing her to withdraw to cover behind the comm relay as her shields fail to stand up for long.
Steve gives Sky a nod. "Security must be lockin' down doors." he says as the sound of metal-on-metal begins just outside the doors. "On second thought, maybe we oughtta put that on hold for now!" he says, pulling the second SMG from his thigh and taking aim at the door Watty's attempting to open.
As soon as Renala and Jason enter the laboratory corridor, the door shuts and locks itself behind them, separating the two from the rest of Alpha squad.
Ilyna 's shields hold off the return fire, but is almost depleted by the time Viper gets the mech's attention
Pip pulls back his hand. He stares at the door for a moment before winding up his arm, the servos once again clicking into overdrive. After a few seconds, he throws his fist forward at the door's centre mass, aiming to buckle it inward.
Skythix was about to put the charge against the door when Briggs turned around at the sound of metal screeching. She put the shape charge down and raised her new harrier rifle at the door. "Shit! What the fuck is trying to get through." Could it have been that mech? She didn't want to hazard a guess considering all the crap they've ran into.
Zaylus charges a new thermal clip before refocusing fire on the distracted mech. He is nearly down to his armor now.
Renala glances back at the closing door. "Fuck!" She jogs over to the locked door to their left, frantically tapping on her omni-tool to try get it open so they at least have cover.
The door buckles a bit, but the manuver likely causes further harm to the joints of the critically injured mech.
Skythix felt her heart skip a beat when the door pounded in front of them. Her eyes opened wide and and she reached down to pick up the shape charge again. "Fuck it! I'm not waiting to find out!" She placed the holder and then the shaped charge against the door they were next to. "Back up! Fire in the hole!" She backed away from the door and once Briggs was clear she would detonate it.
The security mech is struck by the throw, flying hard against the comm relay and dropping its rifle. It clumsily stands up properly again, reaching down to pick up the rifle just before having its head blown off by a shot from Zaylus' hand cannon.
Pip jumps as the door locks, sound now having returned to her. She springs up and tries to override the lock, clearly not comfortable being sperated from friendly combatants.
Renala finds her attempts to open the door are being actively countered, likely by the station's AI. She is met with no success.
Watty backs away from the door, shaking his hand and stretching out his joints in a mimic of human actions. His arm, whilst being relatively intact beforehand, is now rather stiff and slower than usual. Dejectedly, he sits down on the floor a good distance away and simply waits, unable to really do anything at this point. (Pip_Summers)
Steve groans loudly. "Fine! Fine! Just do it!" he says as he backs away from the placed charge, putting himself in the opposite corner and hunkering down.
Jason 's head snaps back towards the door, but he quickly returns his attention to their front, expecting an ambush. "The doors just shut on their own." he reports back to Pip, "Just keep your shit together out there. If we hold positions, hopefully the doors will unlock once Bravo reaches their destination."
Viper emerges from her cover, nodding at Ilyna and Zaylus. "Nice. About time we got here. Cover me while I handle this, yeah?" She moves to the control panel for the comm relay, immediately starting to type.
Renala sighs and disables her omni-tool. "We need to get to the corner before they come back, boss," she says. "Something's keeping the doors locked. the AI."
Zaylus ceases fire as the last shot connects in a very satisfying manner. He steps out, meeting with the others at the far end as Viper goes to work.
Pip | "Okay...", she responds over the comms to Jason. She looks up at Halisi and shakes her head. "The way to the hangar is blocked. We can only go that way," she says as she points to the door behind Halisis.
Ilyna places her pistol against her armor magnetically before hurring over to VIper's posiiton. Once there, she picks up one of the mechs' assault rifles and reloads it.
Halisi glances over her shoulder. "I'm not sure I sh-..." She's interrupted as the invisible BDSM enthusiast decloaks, next to her, punching the doctor biotically in the chest and sending her flying across the room yet again.
Pip yelps and backpedals to the door, her back crashing against it. "No!" she cries as Halisi flies across the room.
Jason gives Renala a nod and rushes forward, eager to take a defensive position before they can be cornered. "It's gonna be fine!" he says over comms, hoping to calm the two on the other side of the door, "Just take a defensive position and shoot anyone in Cerberus duds that isn't us!"
Skythix points through the blown open door, "Lets go!" She charges through the newly opened door with her rifle raised to make sure there aren't any combatants on the other side.
The Phoenix commando tilts his head, a grin on the only visible part of his face as he sidesteps to get a clear view. When Pip begins firing his barrier flares and weakens, but he lashes out with one of his whips, trying to yank her in.
Steve gives Skythix an amused nod. "Alright then..." he says as he stands back up and continues towards the fresh new doorway, keeping both SMGs raised despite the pain in his shoulder. "On our way to your position, Blue!" he announces.
Jasper raises the pistol at the awakened Cerberus trooper. "Now... Don't you go gettin' any ideas..." he says, his words a bit shaky, "Just stay where ya are, understand?"
Pip throws herself to the side, barely dodging the whip as it grazes past her fatigues. She scrambles to her feet and turns, firing a wild shot as she runs as freaking fast as she can.
Ilyna checks the assault rifle over with her omni-tool, trying to determine whether it'll let her use it without firing to test that fact. "We're trying," she responds over the comms.
The Phoenix operative doesn't bother chasing after Pip, instead walking towards Halisi on the floor, whips still extended and sparking as they drag across the floor.
Watty 's head snaps up. He's already on his feet and running back to the obstruction in the hallway. Without a second thought, he starts grabbing an throwing whatever he can grab a hold of from the collapsed hallway. (Pip_Summers)
Ilyna nods to herself and aims the harrier at the other airlock, glancinga round to see if there's any other mechs around.
Pip turns back and sees the operative walking towards Halisi. Her arms shake and her legs tremble, fear and adrenaline gripping her heart. She gulps. She drops the shotgun and activates both of her omni-tools. She fires off two overloads at the operative. "Fight someone who can fight back, you cunt!" She screams.
Jason takes a position at the corner, peering out into the next hall. "We're just on the other side of the door, just hold out until Bravo can knock the defenses down, alright!?"
The commando is struck by both overloads, his barrier going down from the first, and the second causing him to spasm uncontrollably for several seconds as the energy courses through his armor and body.
Skythix tries to open every door in the hallway but curses to herself everytime they don't open. "They're all locked!" She would continue down the hall way until she could spot the rest of their team. "This way!" She called out to Briggs with a motion of her arm.
Pip quickly primes another overload on each omni-tool, her cooldown ridiculously quick in comparison to other omni-tools. She fires off another two, advancing with each one, teeth gritted. "Don't! You! Touch! Her!" she screams, her eyes blazing with a painful memory, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
Upon peeking around the corner, Jason would find that the corridor is empty aside from a ceiling turret with immediately targets him and winds up.
Steve follows right behind Skythix, often glancing back behind them to make sure whatever was pounding on the door hasn't caught up with them. "Cavalry has arrived..." he mutters as he spots the rest of Bravo.
The Cerberus operative is quick to act when the first overloads fade away, smashing his whips against the floor and sending a biotic shockwave in her direction. As Halisi is there as well, she's sent flying yet again just as she begun to get back up.
Zaylus lowers his weapon as the pair comes into view, giving them a nod of recognition before turning to Viper at the panel.
As Ilyna had anticipated, the southern airlock opens and a quartet of Orcus mech marches out, with a trio of Cerberus soldiers following behind them, two armed with SMGs and one with an Incisor sniper rifle. The mechs open fire immediately while walking ahead and the troopers drop to their knees.
Pip may not be a fighter, but she knows how to avoid a bad situation when she sees one, what with growing up on the streets in poverty. As the operative raises his whips, she throws herself to the side again, this time rolling rather than flopping on the floor. She fires off both her overloads again, being that they her only real offensive ability.
Jason pulls his head back into cover and gives a nod to Renala. "More turrets. We should be good to hold a position here until the doors open."
Ilyna drops the weapon and moves to Viper's position, deciding to let the others take care of the new arrivals. "I'll cover Viper!" she calls out over comms before a biotic barrier dome takes shape around her.
Skythix walked up to meet the rest of the squad. The dull throbbing of her bullet wounds still pained her as she walked. Just as she was about to meet up with the rest, she turned to her right and saw the massive troop coming their way. "Incoming!" She braced herself against the wall and started firing off shots at them while they were still at a good distance, peeking in and out to prevent
Pip may not be a fighter, but she sure knows how to avoid a bad situation when she sees one, what with growing up on the streets in poverty. As the operative raises his whips, she throws herself to the side again, this time rolling, rather than flopping on the floor. "Too much of a bitch to fight me fairly?!" she yells, adrenaline dictating her words.
Steve comes to a halt as he reaches the doorway, nearly falling over at the sight of all the enemies approaching. He pulls back to the doorway and plants himself against the frame. "Just doesn't end out here, does it?" he grunts as he begins to unload SMG rounds in their direction.
Watty looks up as the corridor creaks and groans. He stops pulling at the wreckage and steps back. He recalls seeing a door in the computer room, so he backtracks and makes his way inside the room with the dead Ogre, looking at the door on the opposite side. (Pip_Summers)
Zaylus runs to get into cover as enemy fire begins to pour in. Braced opposite Skythix, he pops in and out of cover to assess the forces headed their way, taking careful shots at the oncoming mechs closest to the front.
The Cerberus personnel in the computer room stay well out of Watty's way as he approaches the locked door.
Skythix stops before getting outside when she spots the large troop of soldiers coming the direction of their team. She takes pot shots at the approaching cerberus soldiers and mechs, making sure not to peek out for too long. "Multiple targets incoming!"
The Phoenix operative briefly gestures with his arm as if to protest. "That's uncalled for..." he mutters before lashing out at her again, if successful in grabbing her he would slam her against the eastern wall.
Zaylus curses to himself as the new forces pour outside. Somewhat panicked and without recourse, he takes cover behind the wreckage of the mech, taking with little protection it offers over being out in the open. Occasionally he leans out to take shots at the uncoming mechs, going for quality over quantity.
The shields of the mechs flicker from the gunfire of Bravo squad, but they are returning it in equal measure, still marching forward. The two troopers are advancing as well, using the mechs for cover. Meanwhile, the sniper has gone prone. A burst of deadly accurate fire strikes Zaylus despite his slight cover.
Pip drops directly onto the floor not at all elegantly and all of this fighting and such is seriously taking its toll on her, her actions showing signs of getting sluggish. "Too scared to fight an unarmed woman?!" She calls from the floor.
Watty turns away from the locked doors, striding back to the hallway. With no options present, he stomps back into the hangar and towards the shuttle. He reaches it and bangs his fist against it twice. (Pip_Summers)
The Phoenix agent moves towards Pip and smashes down one whip on each side of her, sending out dual shockwaves.
Viper inserts a flash drive into the comm relay console and continues typing. "Wow, they really don't want security down huh?" She says with a casual glance to the right.
Pip screams as she is flung like a ragdoll, crashing against the floor some distance away. She moans in agony, broadcasting over the comms. "Help..." she pleads. She doesn't want to die. Not now.
Zaylus takes the shot directly, knocking right back at the force on his unsteady stance. His shields are decimated, but his prone position probably stands to give him greater cover than an upright one. He groans painfully, unable to rise for a moment.
Steve stands up and rips one of the grenades from his belt, priming it before hurling it into the advancing crowd.
Ilyna glances back at Viper. "Just... be quick," she speaks through gritted teeth as she holds the barrier up against the incoming fire.
Jason frowns but remains near the corner. "As soon as the defenses come down, we'll be fine." he says. To himself just as much to Renala.
Skythix would wait for the enemies to react to Brigg's grenade throw before she summoned up her biotics. With a shout she threw a singularity sphere that would materialize upon impacting the front of the group.
As if on command, the smaller door near Renala opens, and an asari walks out. She's wearing a tight gray outfit and a sword in sheathed on her back. Upon seeing Renala her eyes start to fill with tears.
The grenade explodes just in front of the mechs, wrecking one of them compeltely and damaging another. The remaining two lose their shields - and a moment later they are sucked towards the singularity, floating around helplessly. The troopers esape this fate, opening fire at the doorway. Skythix is struck by a sniper burst as she pops out to summon the singularity.
Ilyna quickly turns towards the door and backpedals to not be in the immediate range of whoever's coming through. "The fuck are you doing here?" she asks, sounding confused. She doesn't raise her weapon.
Jason swings around as he hears the 'whoosh' of the door opening. "Stay back!" he calls out, sighting in on the asari with his weapon.
The asari lets out a single sob. "I'm sorry" she says before springing into action, kicking Renala in the stomach hard and firing her palm blaster at Jason.
Zaylus drags himself across the floor, staying as prone as possible as he reorients into a firing position. A spreading pain in his chest is soon adressed by a flood of medi-gel, a permanent grimace attesting to the discomfort. He shakily sets up his weapon, not wanting to waste the opportunity Skythix created with her biotic attack, taking a few careful shots the helpless mechs.
Halisi scrambles into a sitting position, typing on her omni-tool. When the Phoenix operative moves closer she unleashes a spray of supercooled material to flash freeze him.
Renala did not expect that as she lowered her guard, and is sent across the floor until the opposite wall stops her. She is moving a bit, but is not getting up, as the kick has knocked the wind out of her. Her weapon is sent on its way further down the hall.
Skythix just finishes throwing the biotic attack and is immediately hit by a quick burst. The first two shots destroy her shields instantly and the last one pings off the top of her helmet where most of the protection was, pinging off high into the air and knocking her to the ground. The initial shock of her being shot in the head kept her stunned, lying on the ground with her rifle dropped
Pip moans on the floor. Being double biotic shockwaved at pointblank range is really not good for your health, after all. She simply lays on the floor, squirming in pain. "I think somethin' broke...".
Steve pulls back into the doorway as he begins the awkward process of reloading his thermal clips, holding each SMG under his arm as he reloads the other. As soon as he spots Skythix hit the ground, he drops one of his SMGs and quickly works on dragging her back into the doorway. "C'mon, plateface. I ain't 'bout to let ya die yet..." he grunts.
Jasper would have seen Watty through the window, so he's not all too caught off guard by the large mech's banging. He slides the door open and looks the mech up and down. "Uhh... You might wanna go and help the others, big guy." he says, not particularly sure if the thing can understand him, or if Pip can hear him, or-... He lifts his hand and points down through the corridor the others ran through.
Another mech is downed by Zaylus' fire. The remaining one falls to the floor as the singularity collapses. Of the troopers, one is firing at the broken airlock and one at Zaylus. The sniper fires off a burst at Steve as he drags Skythix into cover.
Jason swiftly squeezes down the trigger of the Confetti Maker, sending round after round towards the new arrival. "Get up, Jasmine!" he shouts, "Swords. Whips. What the fuck is wrong with you people!? Why can't you just shoot me like a normal scumbag!?"
Skythix was so relieved to finally be able to lie down but something felt wrong. The piercing headache was trying to tell her that there was still danger but when her body started to move on its own she didn't resist. She groaned when she registered some kind of voice. She recognized it as friendly but wasn't sure who's it was. She simply let herself be dragged.
Watty shakes his head. He taps his shredded voicemodule as garbled speech screeches from it. It's barely understandable. "B-scccnfhbeen-LOckeD... T-ssccfffheekgn-ged." (Pip_Summers)
Steve takes the rounds to his right shoulder, his shields having long fallen during the whole exchange, but manages to keep a grip on Skythix until she's safely beyond the cover of the wall. He falls backwards onto his ass once inside and grasps at his shoulder as he lets out a pained wheeze. "How many more are left!?"
Jasper blinks and opens his mouth to speak, but decides against it. After a few awkward moments pass, his right hand slowly reaches for the door interface. A moment later, it slides shut.
The asari's high-powered barrier survives the barrage from the Confetti Maker as she dashes forward, a biotic punch going at Jason's chest before she unsheathes her sword.
Watty slips his hand in the way to tstop the door from fully closing. "CaN -ssccccggfhhffttt-ix mY voiC- skkkkeeeeght." (Pip_Summers)
The Cerberus trooper in the shuttle crawls away from the door as fast as he an, clearly terrified by the malfunctioning mech.
Renala teleknitecally pulls the Locust towards her and takes it, and fires a few careful bursts towards her, trying to avoid hitting Jason. She is still on the ground
Zaylus is forced back into cover as his barely recovered shields deplete, satisfied by the destruction of most of the mechs. He fumbles to charge the next thermal clip, his breathing labored as the pain squeezes his chest. He leans heavily against the mech, listening for a break in gunfire.
Skythix | It took a few moments for Skythix to realize that she wasn't actually dead but the pounding headache from the sheer force of the shot was what was deluding her. She puts a hand to her head where she was struck. She could feel a nice dent on her helmet. She seriously hoped it was still sealed. "W-what happened?" She asked while leaning against the wall to catch her breath.
Jasper presses his index finger against Watty's hand and gingerly attempts to push it clear of the door, deadpanning him as he does.
Halisi looks over at Pip. "I'll-... I'll fix you up... just... shoot him. Please...?" She points at the frozen operative, apparently not convinced he is permanently dealt with.
Jason is hurled backwards into the wall as the biotic strike connects. The Confetti Maker falls to the floor as he clutches at his chest, his eyes going wide at the sword. He reaches back with his right hand and pulls his Revenant free, holding the trigger as he unsheathes it, causing the first few rounds to burrow into the ceiling as he brings it to bear on the asari.
The trooper firing at Zaylus stops to reload, while the other one keeps firing at the airlock. The sniper is not firing at teh moment. The last mech standing has managed to recover its weapon, and istaking aim at the turian behind the downed mech.
Steve rocks back and forth slightly in place as medi-gel is administered once more. "You took a hit." he says, "You alright? Suit seal up alright an' everything?" he asks, attempting to take his mind off of his own pain that was coursing through the whole right side of his body.
Jasper takes a couple steps back and off to the side. "Pip. Think yer robot is on the fritz." he says over comms, "He's talkin' gibberish and set himself inta 'doorstop mode'."
The ceiling turret opens fire at Jason when he comes into view, a barrage of bullets coming his way. The prototype phantom meanwhile cartwheels out of the way of the gunfire from the two, stabbing her sword at the shoulder of Renala's gun arm once she's close enough.
Pip moans. "He's pretty -gah - beat up." She checks her omni-tool, getting a diagnostic feed directly from Watty. "He wants you to try and fix- ah - his voice box." Pip slowly crawls over to the shotgun. Once there, she pulls out a spare thermal clip from her fatigues and shoves it into the gun. She pushes herself into a sitting position and aims the shotgun at the frozen man. She promptly
Renala tries to roll out of the asari's stab, but is too slow and end up taking a deep stab wound into her shoulder. Purple blood gush out of it before the armor manages to react and seal the wound up with medi-gel. She drops the gun, and groans in pain. A biotic shimmer forms around her.
Skythix struggled to stand up straight, clutching her helmet. She looks down at her omni-tool to check her suit's readings. "Some how, yeah." She said with a groan in her voice. "It must have ricocheted off the helmet." She could tell the fighting was still going on. "How many are left?" She asked, looking for her lost rifle. She realized it was past their cover so she drew her pistol that
The Phoenix operative shatters to pieces, the frozen armor collapsing to reveal the gooey inside. Worst piñata ever.
Zaylus leans his prone body out of cover at the first sign of respite, eyes widening as it's clear the last mech has targeted him and his hunk of cover. He squeezes off two quick shots before spinning back out of sight- a bit too quickly, causing him to stiffle a cry and tuck himself closer to the mech.
Steve instinctively brings his left arm up to guard his head from the turret shots, although his shield does a good enough job of keeping him covered as he rushes forward and back out of the sightline of the turret. Unable to get a clean shot with his Revenant with Renala in such close proximity to the attacker, he just continues to rush forward and attempts to rifle butt her in the head
Jason instinctively brings his left arm up to guard his head from the turret shots, although his shield does a good enough job of keeping him covered as he rushes forward and back out of the sightline of the turret. Unable to get a clean shot with his Revenant with Renala in such close proximity to the attacker, he just continues to rush forward and attempts to rifle butt her in the head
The last Orcus takes a shot to the shoulder, losing its gun arm - and the gun with it. It stands around uselessly for a moment before starting to walk forward. The western guard now reloads while the eastern opens fire at the barrier. A trio of sniper rounds hit Ilyna's barrier as well.
The asari kicks Renala in the head in an attempt to knock her out before swinging around and slashing at Jason with her sword.
Steve gives a shake of his head. "I have no idea." he says honestly. He gives a pained groan as he reaches over and scoops his SMG off the ground, pulling it back towards him. "No rest for the wicked, though, right?" He goes to stand and immediately drops his SMG from his right hand. The damage was beginning to take its toll on him. He doesn't bother to pick it up yet, he just returns to
the doorframe and peers out quickly to get a look at the enemy numbers and how the others are faring. "Just a few."
Renala tries to roll away from the kick, but with the wall that way, that was not going to happen. The kick makes her helmet bounce against the wall. Whether it truly knocked her out is unclear, but she's not moving.
Ilyna pours more energy into her barrier to compensate for the sniper rounds, although the barrier is still standing strong as the others are taking the brunt of the fire.
Jason redirects his Revenant as the sword swipe comes his way, hoping to block the strike as he attempts to deliver a kick to her midsection. "Renala! Get up!"
Skythix sees Briggs having trouble. "You need help?" She said between heavy breaths. In all honesty, she was tired as hell and her wounds were starting to weigh on her too. "What's taking so long, Viper?"
Zaylus waits for the tattoo of gunfire against his cover, but it does not come, instead it becomes clear the asari's barrier is their target. He comes up to a knee, the sight of the unarmed mech boosting his confidence. Instead of taking aim at it, however, he targets the trooper firing on Ilyna, taking a few shots at him from over his mech.
The phantom's blade is blocked by the Revenant - at the cost of the LMGs functionality - it is cut halway through. The kick is countered with a dodge to the side, followed by another biotic punch, intended to slam him into the wall hard.
Steve gives a shake of his head. He raises his right hand to wave the turian off, but the pain shooting through his arm discourages him from following it up. "No... No... I'm fine." he lies as he leans heavily against the door frame and leans out, firing wildly towards the enemies attacking Ilyna with his SMG.
Jason forces the Revenant against the blade and wrenches it to the side as the blade slices through it, hoping to, at the very least, knock the blade out of her hands. His attempt comes at the cost of his defense, however, and the punch strikes him cleanly, slamming him back into the wall once again. A loud cough escapes him and he brings his arms up to his chest in pain.
Skythix shook her head in disagreement. They weren't going to be able to last much longer like this. She ducked under his arm and tried to shoulder his weight so that they could help each other. "We need living soldiers, not dead heroes!" She barked at him, hoping he'd take the help without more fuss. With her free arm, she held up her pistol and tried to aim the best of her abilities.
The asari loses her blade, but shoves Jason to the floor and aims the hand blaster at him in order to finish him off. She hesitates for a moment and speaks up: "I-... I-.. I can't... Please, I-..." her sentance goes unfinished. there is a loud pop and her head is enveloped in a bright flash of light. When the light fades only a burned-out skull remains as her body falls limply to the floor.
Viper yells out: "I'm working on it! I should be-..." She trails off as the comm relay suddenly pulses with light for a moment. "Got it!"
Jason brings his arms up to shield himself and waits for the impact. As he hears the asari's words, he slowly lowers his cybernetics just in time to watch the light show. "What the fuck!?" he curses, backing up against the wall. After a few moments pass, he uses the wall to help him back up to his feet and approaches the downed asari to make sure she's dead. "Rena-... Jasmine. Talk to me.
Renala makes a soft groan as she's slowly coming to her senses, but that's about all the response he's getting right now.
Pip yelps as operative is scattered everywhere. She thinks she's going to- yep, she's going to be sick again. She retches to the side, dry heaving as she has already vomited not so long ago.
One of the two troopers is gunned down, promting the other two pull a grenade and hurling it with stabilizers out at Steve and Skythix. The sniper fires another shot at the barrier.
Halisi crawls over to Pip, not bothering to get up yet. She puts a hand on the woman's shoulder while scanning her for injuries. "It's okay... we'll-... we'll be fine."
Steve continues to lay down fire, giving the turian a dry snort. "Been called a lotta things, sweetheart, but never a hero." His eyes go wide as the grenade is primed. Knowing there's no way for him to get out of the way in time, he pulls his arm from around Skythix and raises his hand in front of him, clenching his teeth through the pain that shoots through him. With all of the biotic energy
he can muster, he tries to redirect the grenade. Not in any specific direction, just away from himself and his allies. It's a move out of desperation more than anything else.
Pip has fractured a few bones, broken a rib or two and has a bleeding gash on her forehead. "I'm not... a fighter... I shouldn't be fightin' a fuckin' army..." she mumbles to herself. "Can we go home now?"
Jason looks around quickly and scoops up the sword. He gives it the once over before planting it into the asari's chest, just to be certain, before rushing over to Renala's side and taking a knee. "Come on! You gotta get up!"
Zaylus stays above cover, gambling with his recovered shields that the remaining forces will continue to focus their attention elsewhere. This time he bears down on the sniper, an admittedly more difficult target. He grips tightly on his weapon and squeezes out two careful shots while trying to keep as much of himself covered as possible.
Renala sits up. "My head," she mutters. "Feels like a fucking cruister tried to land on it." The asari is quiet for a few seconds before adding, "Just... give me a minute."
Steve successfully redirects the grenade, causing it to fly right past the airlock and explode harmlessly midair. Meanwhile, the turian's shots miss, but the sniper stops to reload. The last trooper returns fire at Zaylus.
Jason assists the asari into a sitting position. "Yeah..." he mutters with a glance back towards their attacker. He rubs at his chest as it begins to throb. "I-... I don't know what happened." he says between breaths, "One second she had the drop on me, next second a lightbulb went on in her head." He tilts his head to the side, glancing over at Renala with a smirk, "Then it went off."
Renala looks over at the dead asari. "I shouldn't have let my guard down," she says, speaking slowly. "She seemed to... not want to do this." She sighs. "This is fucked up, Wo... boss."
Zaylus abandons this target, pulling his head down as more shots ping off metal. He leans to the edge of his cover to see how the rest of Bravo is fairing in the airlock, reloading meanwhile.
Skythix didn't know what to do. She knew that from trying to help Ilyna with the barrier before but that only made thigns worst. When Briggs tossed her off and redirected the grenades harmlessly she opened her eyes wide at the display of bravery. She pulled Briggs back to make sure he was still in cover, touching her helmet to his briefly. "Definitely a hero." She pulled back with a small
smile. She would then wait for the sniper's fire to stop before leaning out of her cover, letting out a primal shout, and throwing a large shockwave down the path of soldiers.
The shockwave anti-climactically fails to reach the soldiers. Awkward. The remaining trooper is however briefly distracted by the fierce warcry, halting his firing for a moment as he looks at the airlock. The sniper is busy picking a target.
Jason gives a couple nods as he stares at the asari. He grunts loudly as he once more climbs to his feet and goes to scoop up his weaponry, reholstering the damaged Revenant on his back and inspecting the Confetti Maker. "Yeah... I-..." he pauses as his mind struggles to put two and two together, "She had me dead to rights. She said she couldn't do it and then-..." he puts a hand up to his
Steve lets out a loud, surprised chuckle as his biotics actually come through for him, although his pride is quickly cut short as Sky tosses him back into cover. He leans back against the wall and attempts to catch a breath as he reloads his SMG. "Pull back!? Are the defenses down...?"
Renala starts getting to her feet after picking up her weapon. "She could have killed me, too," she says. "Sounds like someone put a bomb in her head and told her to fight their fight."
Ilyna nods. "I'll drop the barrier in ten," she says, though not over the comms. "Get ready to move back to the airlock."
Zaylus leans out of cover at the display of biotics, hoping to catch an easy target in its wake. He aims at the remaining trooper, squeezing out a few quick shots before pulling back, acknowledging the developing plan.
Jason furrows his brow and nods. "Sounds like it." Suddenly his eyes go wide as he seems to realize something and he tears back towards the door they came from, "Doc! Doc!" he calls out over comms as he checks to see if the door has unlocked, "In her head! Some of them have-... something in their head! A bomb or-... killswitch?"
Skythix must have been weaker than she thought if her biotics couldn't reach the enemy soldiers. That must mean her stim might wear off soon. She looked at Briggs with a hopeful look and leaned out to count the remaining enemies. "Then lets get the fuck out of here!" She yelled out unceremoniously. She waved over the rest of her squad as she tried to fire a few pistol rounds off from as close
The last trooper is shot in the head while distracted. Another headshot for Zaylus! He falls to his knees before collapsing to the floor. The sniper doesn't seem to enthusiastic about his odds, and only considers for a moment before rolling off the walkway and then cloaking.
Halisi pulls out a medi-gel canister and starts applying it generously to Pip. "Soon. We'll go home soon."
Ilyna drops the barrier and it starts to dissipate. "Let's go," she says to the turian before starting to run across the walkway towards the airlock.
Halisi can't help but glance in Jason and Renala's direction as he speaks about the killswitch. "...what? A bomb?"
Zaylus hoists himself to his feet via the downed mech, giving it a good pat before heading off at the asari's command.
Skythix noticed the last person cloaked away. She hesitantly stood out of cover and slowly walked over to the harrier she had dropped from before. "One still cloaked, be careful." She said before quickly reaching down to pick up the harrier and moving back to cover.
Steve steps out and joins Skythix in covering the group. He watches to the south as the other team covers the ground between them.
Renala looks around the hallway for a moment, listening in on the comms. "Are Bravo done with their objective?" she asks, looking at Jason.
Jasper mutters under his breath for a bit before moving back to the door and looking over Watty. "Alright, fine. What's wrong with yer whatsits?" he asks, feeling a bit dumb for talking to a robot.
Watty points to a small module exposed at his throat. It's been peppered with bullets, yet with a bit of tinkering it can still be fixed. "VoICe -ssgggfttttt-dule." (Pip_Summers)
Jason slaps a hand again the door's panel anyway. "Vasquez!" he shouts over comms, despite not needing to shout to be heard, "That's why she seemed so conflicted! She has-... something in her head! Scan her! If you find anything out of place, yank it the fuck out!" He glances back at Renala and nods at the door. "You need to get this door open." he pleads.
Halisi seems to realize what he means at the same time, scrambling over to Vasquez and performing an omni-tool scan. She sits in silence as she's scanning and then lets out a relieved sigh. "No bomb. Thought as much."
Renala nods and jogs over to the door. "Let's hope the AI's busy, then," she says and enables her omni-tool. She starts working on getting the door open.
The AI is no longer countering Renala's efforts to unlock the door, and after a while it slides open.
Jason sighs and walks over towards the asari corpse. "What do you mean 'no bomb'?" he asks as Halisi makes her report, "I've got a body for you to look at. You can compare, find out where this thing is." He grips the sword jammed into the asari's chest and drags the corpse across the ground towards the opening door.
Jasper begins poling around at Watty's "throat". "You got banged up good, ol' boy." he says as he reaches in and begins to do whatever it is a person in his position would do to fix it. Totally technical stuff. You wouldn't understand.
Halisi looks over at the newly opened door. "I know what I'm doing. There are no explosives. J-... Zach... I think it's her neural implant. It's doing... something. I need my hospital equipment to determine what."
Jason shakes his head. "Get it out. She was alright between implants." he says, dragging the corpse and freeing the blade from its chest as he stops beside Halisi, "So she can survive without it, right? We'll get her a new one when we get home. I don't want them-... doing whatever the fuck they did to this one-..." he glances at the asari, "...before we can get her back."
Skythix made sure everyone made it to the other side before standing next to Briggs again to make sure he didn't falter. "Everyone okay? Status report." She asked over comms.
Watty patuently waits as Jasper does his technical stuff. After a minute or two, Watty's voice module fizzes. "T-T-There we g-go...". He slaps the voice box with his hand. "Thank you." His voice is somewhat patchy and fuzzy than usual, but Jasper's tech skill was sufficient. (Pip_Summers)
Steve takes a step back into the airlock and scoops up his dropped SMG, holstering it on his thigh as there's no way he'll be able to really fire with his right arm at this point. "Well... We're still alive." he sighs, "...And I 'ppreciate the help." he begrudgingly says to Skythix.
Jasper activates his comms, "Just performin' throat surgery on an enormous killin' machine. All else is well for now."
Halisi lets out a frustrated sigh. "It's a neural implant, not a bomb! And I can't get it out without surgery."
Ilyna stops as she reaches the airlock. "Let's get inside," she says. "I'm sure Alpha can use our help."
Zaylus jogs into the relative safety of the airlock, pleased to be upright once again. He only listens, looking back behind them.
Jason activates his comms. "Alpha is still proceeding towards the second objective. We've encountered numerous agents with advanced weaponry. We're all a little beat up right now, but we'll be fine. The most important thing right now is for you guys to try and find us another way back to the hangar." After he deactivates his comms, he looks over towards Halisi. "So perform some surgery.
You're a doctor, right? Your medical license is real?" He gestures towards Vasquez with the Confetti Maker, "Well then surge!" he says.
Halisi stares at Jason. "It plugs into her brain! This is delicate stuff! You want to kill her? This'd be a good way!"
Jason stares at Halisi for a few moments longer before his features soften up and he lets out a deep breath. "Fine. But keep her sedated. We can't have her waking up until you've removed that thing, understand? So that means you need to keep her under until we're home. Can you do that?"
(Comms) Acknowledged. Unless my sense of direction is completely off, I think the maintenance corridors is a good place to start.