Leah stows the Carnifex in her right hand against her thigh as the blade is parried, bringing her hand up with intention of pressing it against the hilt and forcing it down on the guard she's kneeling over. But when he grips her wrist, she switches gears. The guard doesn't have time to wrench the blade from her hand because, the moment her wrist is grabbed, she simply lets go of the knife. In a show of reflexes and dexterity,
#Kalus'Compound – February 16, 2019
her right hand swoops in, catching the blade in a reverse grip and jabbing a pair of shallow shanks into the guard's side, just beneath his plating, as he gains control of her left hand.
Mendez brings his hands up above him, instinctively bracing for the impact of the heavy boot hovering over him. His vision darkens with every beat of his heart, but he leans up from the ground anyway, ready to meet the attack and hold it off for as long as he can. The sudden and unexpected explosion puts his upper horizontal again and his- thankfully helmeted- head bounces off the hard, frozen ground. Another burst of darkness
creeps into his vision and he blinks against it, desperately trying to remain conscious to stay in the fight. Between the concussive force of the blast and the rapidly dulling pain in his shoulders thanks to the medi-gel in his system, the jagged pieces of shrapnel that lodge into his side go almost entirely unnoticed. As the smoke is temporarily cleared out and the scattered snow settles, he's treated to a view that is
distinctly lacking in krogan. It's a welcome sight. The large man surges forward in an attempt to sit up, clearly unaware of just how hurt he is. But the pain quickly catches up to him and, with a deep, pained grunt, he ends up horizontal again. "Fu-... I'm good! Whatever you did, it-... it seemed to-..." he manages through the pain, heavy breaths accompanying each word. "Just-... keep that motherfucker off the shuttle!"
Jattic slams into the mostly-destroyed building with a shoulder to stop his momentum. The smokescreen makes seeing much of anything a nightmare, but it's clear from his voice that Mendez is hurt. The explosion that follows from the west causes him to hunker briefly before getting a grasp on what just happened, forcing his attention back towards the hangar. "Emma!" he growls. He may not like the woman, but she's a teammate. A
teammate who was his responsibility to protect. A teammate who may now be buried in rubble. "Come in! Are you alright?!" he calls out over comms, torn between rushing in to join Mendez and Nathan and sprinting back to check on their sniper.
./me is peppered is visceral and shredded armour, raising an arm to shield the worst of it from obscuring his visor. The other explosion, he realises, wasn’t his. Not from any of his arsenal. He spins around and sees Emma’s building torn asunder and he swears, loudly. “Shit! Mendez, if you can, get to Tara. I’ll deal with these guys. Jattic, get Emma.” He reaches behind him and withdraws his Argus, flicking
it to burst fire. He shoulders it and starts pressing through the smoke towards the last place Fasha and his bodyguard was seen. No cover except the smoke swirling around him. He reaches down onto his belt and primes a flash grenade, ready to roll it at the batarians the moment they come into view.
Nathan is peppered is visceral and shredded armour, raising an arm to shield the worst of it from obscuring his visor. The other explosion, he realises, wasn’t his. Not from any of his arsenal. “Shit! Mendez, if you can, get to Tara. I’ll deal with these guys.” He reaches behind him and withdraws his Argus, flicking it to burst fire. He shoulders it and starts pressing through the smoke towards the shuttles,
Nathan - starts pressing through the smoke to the last position Fasha and his bodyguards were seen. No cover except the smoke swirling around him. He reaches down onto his belt and primes a flash grenade, ready to roll it at the batarians the moment they come into view.
The thick smoke envelops Nathan, leaving him in a featureless gray void. It would be almost peaceful if it wasn't for the screaming and gunfire that sounds loudly around him. It's surprisingly hard to find the spot where Fasha was - he has to crouch down to see the snow - and dead guards provide a gruesome tripping hazard. When he gets there the spot is marked by little more than bloodsoaked snow and dragmarks showing the way. In the
shuttle, the injured guard lets out a strained gasp of pain as Leah shanks him. He scrambles desperately to defend himself, attempting to use his forearm-blade to slit her throat. Behind Leah, the other guard pops back into the doorway, a ballistic blade blast charging for a split second before firing at her from behind. There is no response from Emma, nor is she visible, the east wall reduced to a pile of rubble and snow, surrounded by
Leah leans back, dodging just out of the reach of the strike. When the guard in the doorway dodged the submission net, she knew it would only buy her a few valuable seconds and the sound of his return causes her to blindly roll to the side in an effort at getting herself out of the line-of-fire of whatever he's sending her way. If her dodge is successful, she releases her now-bloodied blade against her chestplate, allowing the
magnetic system to take it as she gracefully comes out of her roll and unholsters the Mattock once again. The weapon barely has time to finish unfolding, parts clicking into place as she pivots in place and fires off a barrage at the downed guard in a quick attempt at finishing him before turning her focus on the attacker in the doorway. The sound modulator causes the shots to sound like little more than quick whispers
Mendez gives a loud, pained groan as he struggles against the frozen ground to climb to his feet, but only gets as far as a knee. He nods a few times to Nathan's suggesting- not that it can be seen amongst the thick smoke- but seems to be getting nowhere fast. "Just-... Do what you've gotta do..." he offers weakly, right hand reaching across himself to press at his left shoulder. His armor is caked in both his own blood as well
Jattic finds his attention split. Caught between wanting to charge in to assist Nathan and Mendez and rushing back to help Emma. A frustrated growl erupts from him as he settles on the latter. "The hangar has collapsed! I must return to Emma. I will be back to assist as soon as I have confirmed that she is alright." he says, leaning out from cover and raising his Avenger. He considers firing off a few shots into the smoke to
cover his allies, IFF tags being more than enough to ensure he doesn't tag a friendly but the presence of the slaves makes it a dangerous gamble, causing him to lower his weapon. "Do not do anything reckless!" he growls, "If it is too dangerous to pursue, await my return!" With the thick smoke providing cover, he hurries back towards the hangar.
Nathan fumbles through the smoke, making a rather irritated reminder to himself to get his thermal vision reinstated into his helmet. However, spotting the blood tracks through the snow spurs him onwards, keeping low and following at a hurried pace. Everyone else is blocked out for the moment, the tunnelled focus driving him towards his target. If Fasha escapes, this would’ve been for nought.
Leah's dodge leaves the wounded batarian riddled with ballistic blades, the sharp metal spikes impaling him and pinning him to the shuttle floor. The biotic's rifle finds itself trained on an already-dead target, and the remaining guard charges in before she can spin his way, grabbing the rifle by the barrel and bending it aside as an enforcement gauntlet forms around his right hand and he aims a punch right at her. In the smoke, Nathan
finds his progress slow and disorienting. Blood and disturbed tracks guide the way, but he has to stay low, almost at a crawl, to make his way through. Out of nowhere a burst of gunfire slams into him from the right, a very nearby muzzle flash illuminating the smoke for just a moment. Jattic would find the hangar wall, or what's left of it, a mess. It's a precarious climb to get up the rubble, but Emma is soon spotted. She's lying in the
rubble, bruised and bleeding. It's hard to tell how injured she is, or if she's concious, with debris and snow covering most of her.
Leah slips her head to the side, narrowly dodging the punch with minimal movement. She struggles against him for a moment in an attempt at getting the barrel of her Mattock aimed back at him, firing a few stray rounds into the ceiling of the shuttle in the process, but he has the size advantage. She releases her grip on the rifle, leaving him to hold it by the barrel. She reaches up to grip at the collar of her attacker's
hardsuit and, if successful, falls backwards in an attempt at using her momentum and legs to monkey-flip him out through the shuttle door opposite of the one he entered from and into the smoke.
Mendez frantically looks about, but the encroaching smoke has blanketed him, obscuring his shotgun from view. It wasn't far, though, and, using his uninjured arm to feel around, he eventually finds it. He presses the barrel against the frozen ground and tries to push himself back to his feet. It causes a sharp pain to surge throughout the left side of his body even through the medi-gel.
Jattic is quick to stow his Avenger on his back as he mounts the rubble, remaining low and using his hands to steady himself. "Emma!" he calls out as soon as he gets sight of her. He passes another glance back towards the smokescreen and the shots that ring out through it, muzzle flashes like lightning in a dark cloud. He needs to get back in the fight. Focused on Emma once more, he scurries to her side and leans over her,
Nathan rolls over as the bullets strike his side, his shields flaring as they absorb the bullets. If he gets caught up in an extended gunfight with whoever just shot him, they run the risk of letting Fasha escape. Instead, he hurls his flashbang in that direction, letting it detonate a second after landing before he scrambles back into the tracking. “Really wish I had a fucking drone, right now,” he hisses to
The red-armored guard lets out a surprised noise as the tiny woman manages to land him in the snow. He rolls onto his back, pulling out his Kishock in a smooth motion and taking aim at Leah without pulling the trigger, as if daring her to dodge. They're on the increasingly diffuse edge of the still-expanding cloud of smoke. Deeper in the smoke, Nathan's flashbang detonates like a lightning strike in a thundercloud, prompting a disoriented
groan and a scattered burst of gunfire in his direction, shots kicking up snow and pinging against what's left of his shields. He must surely be reaching the shuttle soon, but he's not there yet. Emma comes to life as Jattic calls out, yanking her right hand free, Phalanx pistol in hand, blue laser sight trained on the approaching batarian. There's an aggressive, determined look on her face despite bleeding from both mouth hand forehead.
Confusion enters her face at the realization that he used her name, her gun-hand wavering a little as her eyebrows furrow, clearly disoriented.
Leah is back on her feet in an instant and facing her attacker from the edge of the shuttle, ready to pounce until realizing she's looking down the barrel of a Kishock. "Drop it!" she says with authority, despite being the one facing down a gun, hands up in front of her, palms outward in an attempt at halting him from pulling the trigger by showing she's not armed. Her green eyes briefly flicker out towards the smoke, trying to
Mendez bites down, powering through the pain as he staggers to his feet. "Leah! We-..." he winces, biting on his own words. "...Not in the best shape out here... We need to end this. Now!" He scans through the smoke, only able to see a flickering of IFF tags through the right side of his cracked visor.
Jattic jolts back as Emma springs to life, the Phalanx giving him pause. He shows his hands, both palms towards the woman to show that she's in no danger. "...We do not have time to waste, Emma. The others need us..." he says, hesitation clear in his voice as precious seconds tick by but he remains still, making no sudden movements until he's sure he won't taking a shot.
Nathan continues his mad crouching somewhat crawling dash towards the shuttles, towards wherever Fasha is. Follow the blood trail, find the bastard, beat the crap out of his other bastards, then kill the bastards. God he’s getting progressively more and more angry right now.
The guard on the ground on front of Leah doesn't hesitate. He fires the moment her gaze flicks away, following up by rolling to the side and getting on his knees as he ejects the spent thermal clip, reaching for a new one. The smoke is rapidly enveloping them, but it's thin enough out here that it doesn't cause the near-total vision obsctruction that it does near the center, around the trail Nathan is following. Speaking of Nathan, he
suddenly finds himself looking at the back of a pair of armored legs, having almost bumped into a red-armored guard from behind. There's hints of the shuttle just beyond, but nothing but its existence can really be discerned through the thick smoke.
Emma continues to stare at Jattic for a tense moment, her normally sharp blue gaze dazed. Her headset has broken in the fall, dangling from a wire under her beanie. Briefly, she looks on the verge of taking the shot, before she lets her arm fall with strained sigh, starting to shift against the rubble that has her pinned. "Help me out." she demands after spitting out a mouthful of blood into the snow.
Leah is quick to shift to the side when the shot rings out, but not quick enough. Her shields fizzle out as the harpoon makes contact, causing her systems to screetch in her ear signifying that they'll need time to recharge. Along with Mendez' pained voice, it's enough to force her right back into action. With one heavy step, she launches out of the shuttle in a flash of blue, knees up as she attempts to drive them into the
Mendez takes another step forward before leaning heavily against his shotgun and drawing in a deep breath. The gunshots ahead of him and the spark of the flashbang causes him to focus on Nathan's IFF tags. Still moving. Better than the alternative.
Jattic lets out a breath he had been holding as the Phalanx lowers. He holds the human's gaze for a moment, expression hidden behind his helmet, but seems to regain his composure soon enough and settles in beside her. "Mendez sounds hurt and the others are still fighting. The shuttle has not yet taken off, but we are running out of time." he updates as he shifts his focus to the rubble atop Emma and begins to hurl whatever he
Nathan screeches to a halt, staring at the legs for a moment before his brain kicks into gear. He drops his Argus to the ground and grabs two grenades off his belt. Both shockers. Both being ramped up a notch. And by ramped up, he means he’s applying two. Same thing. He slams both upwards into the back of the red armoured Batarian, attaching them to the torso before he goes to jam a knee straight into the lower
back of his foe to force him forward a few steps. As soon as he’s even an arms reach away, both shockers activate, generating a staggering amount of current into the red armoured Batarian.
Leah's opponent shifts to the side as he sees her launch towards him, bracing and managing to turn enough that she impacts his bladed shoulder rather than his chest, although he's still knocked over by the impact, once again falling on his back into smoke, little more than a shadow as he slams the fresh thermal clip into the Kishock. Deeper in the smoke, the red-armored guard lets out a confused "Huh?" as the shockers attach to his
backplate, barely having time to turn his head before he's kicked foward, staggering, and then convulsing wildly as electricity courses through his body and he falls into the smoke, landing with a loud metal clank, likely having fallen into the shuttle.
Emma pulls herself free as soon as she can, wincing from pain and gritting her teeth as she scoots up until her legs are clear. It's hard to tell how injured she is, but she's starting to try and get to her feet. "The-..." a coughing fit interrupts her, briefly bracing against a chunk of wall as she lets it pass. "The big one, he has heavy weaponry." she manages to get out, eyes darting around as she tries to get her bearings
Leah's plating takes the brunt of the bladed pauldron, but it manages to carve a nice clean line alongside her left calf. Amongst the adrenaline it's barely even a thought as she rolls out of her landing and ends up right back on her feet. With her opponent downed, she promptly lifts a leg and crashes it down in an axe kick, aimed right at the batarian's head as she pulls her blade free once again.
Thiago despite being a bloody mess and being told to get out of the fight, slowly staggers after Nathan, using his shotgun to keep himself steady. "Visibility is-... is fucked." he says bluntly, blinking at the haze still present in his vision. Readouts scroll across his damaged visor, only able to get brief glimpses of Nathan's tags as he attempts to follow and lend aid. Just smoke, haze, and the occasional bright light.
Jattic rises to his feet and grips Emma by the forearm, attempt to help her up as well and lend her a shoulder to balance against. Her warning causes him to shoot a glance back towards the smoke. The fact that her voice isn't heard over comms causes him to relay the information himself. "One of Fasha's men has heavy weaponry. It was enough to level the hangar." he announces, "But Emma is-... fine. I will be with you
momentarily." At that he looks back to the sniper, as if awaiting assurance that she'll be able to manage.
Nathan scoops up his rifle and advances forward, gun raised to the point where the the Batarian hit the shuttle with a satisfying clunk. One down, at the very least. He would emerge to the shuttle and scan the area very rapidly, searching for targets and Fasha. With the amount of electricity currently going through the Batarian on the ground, it’ll be a long, long time before he wakes up. “Mendez, go find Tara!
The last red-armored guard crashes forward as Leah's boot strikes the back of his helmet. Without time to spin around he grabs her ankle, pulling hard in an effort to make her lose her balance and buy him some time. Nathan would find himself with with his faceplate pressed against a machinegun barrel as soon as he steps towards the shuttle door. The tall, black-and-red armored batarian is in front of him, standing over the twitching
guard. Fasha can be glimpsed beyond, on the shuttle floor, and there's a hint of someone else in there as well, little more than a coughing shadow in the smoke that has spilled into the shuttle. Further out in the smoke, Mendez finds his slow, staggering journey through the smoke cloud interrupted by the brief glimpse of an armed figure stalking throught he smoke ahead.
Emma lets out a muffled cry of pain through gritted teeth as she tries to put weight on her left leg, falling into a sitting position despite Jattic's support. She lets go of him, shaking her head. "Go!" she says. "I'm good."
Leah is still off balance from the axe kick when her ankle is grabbed. But she's had extensive training in various martial arts, and she's no less competent on the ground as she is on her feet. It was an important part of her training. Especially considering her size. So, feeling the pull at her ankle, she immediately drops to a knee to keep from being toppled backwards, her other foot digging into the snow. She attempts to
lean forward, overtop the guard to put her meager weight on him and wrap her free arm around his neck to try and control him as best as she can. Nathan's mention of Tara gives her a surge of energy. These are the people who hurt her. She twirls the blade in her right hand to hold it in a reverse grip as she lunges against the guard to try and drive the blade into any exposed area on the guard's back. Took
Mendez grits his teeth as he hazards another step forward but Nathan's words cause him to halt his advance. There's no denying that he'd be more of a hinderance than a help to Nathan at this point. He cusses loudly to himself, deep breaths filling the air as he begins to backpedal. "Fine!" he grunts, cracked visor occasionally picking up signs of him and Leah somewhere through the smoke from his position. "Get that scummy little
fucker and-..." he winces, cutting his words short as another sharp pain surges through his shoulder, causing his voice to lower, "...and get your ass back here..."
Jattic helps Emma back to the ground and watches her for a brief moment, as if trying to decide whether or not she's alright on her own. Allowing a breath out through his nose, he gives a single nod. "I will return." he growls as he pivots and begins to scramble back down the rubble, Avenger already back in his hands as he reaches the bottom and begins to sprint towards the smoke, scanning the area for hostiles.
Nathan is about to answer Mendez when the little clunk of a barrel hitting the coloured visor of his helmet echoes like a bell. He blinks, flicks his eyes up to the Batarian and simply says, “Hi.” He swings his own gun up to bat the Batarian’s rifle to the side whilst instinctively shifting his own head in case a shot manages to ring out. After his quick attempt, he brings the butt of his rifle straight up to
The batarian on the ground is heavily armored, and it's hard to find a good point of attack for her knife. His armor seems to hold up to the attempted stabbing, and rolls over suddenly, bringing Leah with him until he's on top of her. The batarian is far heavier, especially when factoring in the heavy armor, and one hand tears away the arm around his neck while the other jabs a spiked elbow into Leah's side while simultaneously slamming
the back of his armored helmet down against her faceplate with a growl. By the other shuttle, the machinegun goes off just as Nathan dodges, the first shots grazing the side of his helmet, the report of the heavy weapon deafeningly loud this up close. The batarian uses their machinegun to block the attempted melee attack, shoving Nathan back into the smoke and taking aim again. Four yellow eyes are all that can be seen through the smoke.
A spray of SMG gunfire flies in Mendez' general direction from deeper in the smoke - likely aimed based solely on his voice judging by the inaccuracy of the attack.
Emma leans back against the rubble with a pained grunt as Jattic starts to run back into the fray. She leans over and starts to tug her Black Widow out of the rubble.
Leah is certainly the smaller of the two. Likely by a large margin. And she's powerless to stop the roll and her blade slips free from her grasp. She gets her right arm between herself and her attacker when he ends up on top of her, mitigating much of the spike jabbed into her side, but it breaks skin and a pained pull of air indicates as much. The headbutt causes the back of her helmet to bounce off the frozen ground. A bit of
disorientation settles in from the jostling, but she manages to stay calm, even as she tries to fight off the spike from digging deeper into her side. "You're starting to piss me off..." she mutters through clenched teeth. The size advantage and sheer strength difference, along with the leverage from being on top of her, means it's only a matter of time before she's overpowered and finds the spike buried deep into her
side. Another flurry of gunfire from the direction of the shuttle. More from where the smoke is the thickest. A deep, cobalt glow envelopes her entire body as she finds her muscles beginning to give out and the spike slipping deeper into her. She thrusts the arm that was around the batarian's neck straight up, lifting her attacker high into the air as she does and sprawling him out with her biotics.
Mendez stammers backwards as a few shots pepper his shields, the disorientation and physical punishment he endured at the hands of the krogan threatening to topple him backwards. "Under fire!" he calls out, sluggishly shouldering his shotgun.
Jattic sprints full-bore into the smoke, picking IFF tags out of the crowd as he does. His focus shifts to Mendez, the one clearly most in need of assistance. And then to the bright flash of the SMG burst near him. A loud, guttural roar erupts from him over the stacatto of gunfire as he lowers a sharp, bladed shoulder and heads straight towards the shooter like he was shot out of a cannonball.
Nathan ‘s helmet does its best to dampen the noise of the gunshot, but it leaves a horrible whine in his ear. He staggers back at the shove, but leaves a present behind as the Batarian takes aim. As he stumbles, he reaches down and grasps another flashbang, priming it and hucking it straight at the batarians chest. The moment it impacts, it goes off with a flash of white and a sharp, whining bang. His visor darkens
and his external sensors switch off as he throws himself into a roll to the side, in case a burst of gunfire shreds the area he was just stood in.
The batarian on top of Leah lets out a startled noise turned weird by the helmet vocals as he's suddenly yanked into the air, bloody elbow-blade tearing free from her side and limbs flailing as he floats helplessly above Leah. Nathan's opponent raises a hand to bat the flashbang aside mid air, and it detonates next to him, still bright enough to flood his optics as he blindfires a burst of automatic fire where Nathan was a moment before,
his decision to roll to the side immediately proven life-saving. The batarian takes a step back into the shuttle as his advanced helmet optics start to compensate for the flashbang, watching the open doorway with gun at the ready as he waits for his vision to be fully restored. The gray-armored guard firing on Mendez is caught off-guard by Jattic's bladed tackle, his next burst of gunfire goign wild as he's knocked to the ground, blade
Emma manages to free the Black Widow. It's going to need some work once this is over, but it's mostly intact aside from the bipod. She struggles to lift the heavy rifle, eventually propping it up on her knee so that she can use the thermal optics to get a view of the battlefield. It's certainly not a viable firing position.
Jattic immediately follows the tackle by brutally pressing a hand against his downed opponent to press the guard against the ground and tearing his bladed shoulder pauldron free. "Mendez, go!" he barks through comms as he reaches way back with his right hand, left gripping his Avenger tightly. As he clenches his fist the telltale red glow of his enforcement gauntlet flares up, diffused through the smoke as it crashes down on
Mendez hunkers instinctively when more gunfire sounds out, swinging his shotgun back and forth. With his injured shoulder, the Katana feels heavy in his hands. Sluggish. Jattic's exclamation causes him to nod a few times to himself, not willing to chance sticking around for a second time. "I'll lock down the warehouse!" he calls back as he staggers back and- hopefully- out of the smoke.
Leah holds the batarian, splayed out, just above her, one hand outstretched before her. She presses her other hand over the wound in her side, putting pressure on it until her suit administers medi-gel. "What's wrong?" she snarls in response to the surprised gasp. "Not so tough when the person you're beating on fights back, are you?" she asks. She forces out the brief flash of images that attempt to invade her mind as she
watches her helpless opponent. The memories. For a moment, her right hand moves to the Carnifex on her thigh as she pushes the invading thoughts out of her mind and lifts her hand, coldly clenching her fist and jerking it to the side as she attempts to snap his neck. Make 'em pay, Leah.
Nathan doesn’t realise how lucky he was as his helmet readjusts his senses to the world around him. Seeing the Batarian flounder for a moment kicks Nathan into high gear. He holster his Argus for fear of hitting the occupants of the shuttle and barrels towards the Batarian. He reaches down and grabs the last two shockers off his belt and throws himself into a mad tackle at the Batarian, moving to wrap his arms
around his foe and drive him into the shuttle’s wall. He tries to attach the shockers to the armour and then break out of his attack and knock the heavily armoured foe to the ground. The moment there is enough space between them, the demolitions expert would trigger the shockersZ
The floating batarian's flailing comes to an abrupt stop as his helmet twists as an unnatural angle, body going limp in Leah's biotic field. The guard tackled to the ground by Jattic doesn't stand a chance, his helmet crumbling to the enforcement gauntlet, the head inside crushed with a sickening wet pop. Nathan's mad charge is met by an immediate torrent of automatic gunfire that rips through his shields and slams into his armored
chestplate, killing much of the human's momentum. The batarian is clearly both better equipped and trained than most of the rest, and lifts his gun just before Nathan reaches him, meeting the attempted tackle by slamming the stock of the machinegun into the grenadier's faceplate before the shockers can be attached.