Gren pulls off his shotgun and checks it over once before resting it on his shoulder in an almost bored expression. The truth was that he was a little on edge. Something was just... not adding up to him. He couldn't quite place his finger on it either, which was irritating him even more. Gren walked into the lobby, head moving this way and that way to check for any surprises or lingering 'gifts'. Finding none, he stopped by the
#NosAstra – December 7, 2022
The terminal alert is about tampering being detected on the door and that it's unable to re-establish connection with it. The lobby contains no surprised for the group. Footsteps can be heard behind the locked door behind the receptionist's desk.
Foyna scoffs impatiently and begins making her way over to and up the stairs, drawing her Carnifex pistol. "Let's not give them any more time to prepare," she says over comms, keeping her voice low.
Oras stays behind and enters the room after Gren, and follows him over to the desk. He keeps his pistol holstered for now.
Gren affords a single laugh at the terminal alert and pushes it to the side, wandering over to Foyna. "Sure, squishy, you take point," he mutters over comms, now letting his shotgun rest in both his hands. He plods along after her, not even bothering with the subtle approach. Far too big for that.
Oras stays behind for the moment to shut down the door behind the counter, turning its interface from orange to red. He then runs upstairs to catch up with the others.
The stairs lead up to a narrow corridor that goes the entire length of the building with doors on both sides. There's another staircase going up right next to where they came up. The position is behind the last door on their left at the end of the corridor going left.
Gren nods once as he stomps by her, turning and immediately heading down the corridor. He pauses, however, after a few paces and takes a moment to listen. A moment or two passes. Then he begins to slowly walk down the corridor as he amplifies his barriers just that smidgen more than needed. His scar began to itch. Something was going to get him, something was waiting. He walked, slowly heading toward the indicated room down the
corridor. He didn't like it, but he'd have to trust the duo behind him to watch his back and alert him to anything that may pop out of one of the many doors... or he was just being overly paranoid. Eh.
Foyna is just behind him, getting increasingly anxious as they approach the door. For all they know, it could have been an empty home, or they're about to ruin some uninvolved bastard's dinner, or this whole building is going to blow.
He won't hear anything of note; it's mostly sounds from the street outside as the front door downstairs is still open.
Oras catches up to them at the end of the hallway, and he does not need prompting before he gets to work.
Gren nods as the door is hacked and he presses the interface. The moment the door slides open, he strides in, bolstering his barrier evene further is possible so that he can tank any surprise blasts or gunfire.
The door opens into a mostly empty, tiny apartment. There are two open doors along the left wall going to a bathroom and bedroom. The main room has only the minimum of furniture. It's missing a dining table, but there's a couch and a low table. The kitchen has some dirty dishes in the sink, and a pan sits on the stovetop.
Not that he'll have time to regard the room right away anyway, as a proximity mine on the floor goes off the moment the door opens, and two armored asari hiding pop out from each their doorway with a telekinetic field followed by a throw in an attempt to knock him out; hoping that the mine was enough to undo his barrier firs.
The fire alarm starts blaring, and sprinkler systems kick in. There is some smoke, but the mine was not strong enough to cause structural damage.
Foyna is pushed back by the shock of the blast entering the hallway, but she remains on her feet. "Fuck," she says, and starts preparing her biotics.
Oras is mostly unaffected as he stood back further than the other two. He raises his weapon at the doorway.
Gren disappears behind the explosion and smoke for a second, his barrier flaring up dramatically as he absorbs the entirety of the blast. He staggers a few steps and throw is enough to shove his straight back out the door and into the corridor. "GRAH, FUCKERS!" He roars over the ringing in his ears. The helmet dampened it a little, but still... that sucked. He racks his shotgun and retreats from firing view, waiting for his
Foyna hurries up to the doorframe to provide some kind of cover for Gren to recover, and uses her biotics to try and yank the furthest of the two asari out into the open with her biotics before getting back to cover.
All doors on the floor go from orange to red, and the fire alarm is muted shortly after. It does not affect the open door to the apartment, however.
The nearest asari uses another throw field to break the living room window, and tries to get out. She has to pass by the narrow space between the low table and the couch, however, slowing her escape. She is wearing a helmet, so identification is not possible right now.
The furthest asari is firing bursts to suppress the doorway. "Fucking hell, he survived that?" she shouts to the other before she's yanked out into the open of the living room. This is the same asari they encountered earlier.
Gren pauses for a moment more before he storms into the room at full pelt. Pissed. Off. "YEP!" He bellows as he goes to simply charge through all furniture towards the retreating Asari. Seeking to simply tackle her over and plant an almost crushing boot to her neck. During his manic charge, he swings the shotgun around to the asari that was tossed out of cover, firing a blast toward her before snapping to Foyna, "PUT HER DOWN."
Foyna is shoved a bit by the krogan's hasty charge past her, but she gets back into place before he barks his order. "You got it," she says, enveloping the floating asari in a stronger biotic field and slams down as hard as she can muster.
Oras stays back and continues monitoring the hallway. "Could not stop automated emergency call in time," he says over comms. "Make it quick."
The floating asari's shields absorbs the shotgun blast. She hits her head on the edge of the couch's back on her way down to the ground, and there are telltale sounds of bones breaking. She is not moving.
The krogan is able to intercept the fleeing asari and pin her to the ground. She grabs onto hit foot in a futile attempt to pull it off of her neck. "How much is the bitch paying you?" she groans.
Gren nods in satisfaction as the asari is krumped into the ground. However, he pumps the shotgun one and looks down to who he assumed was Esseria Illeni. He gave her a simple shrug before he crouched over her and brought the butt of the shotgun up to crack her in forehead and knock her out cold. He wasn't in the mood for a pointless back and forth or afford her any room to monologue. Gren wanted results and he knew just how to
The asari is about to protest, but barely a sound gets out before the shotgun stock comes down. She goes limp, and there's a crack in the helmet where he hit.
Foyna enters the room and hurries over to check on the other downed asari, placing a hand on her neck. "She's breathing, but out cold," she calls out.
Oras backs into the room after Foyna's inside and closes the door. "I've lost contact with the network," he says. "Broken window might be our only sure exit."
Gren reaches down to grab his prisoner and hoist her over his shoulder. He slips the shotgun onto his back and grunts once. "Window it is, then. Hope you don't mind the fall," he remarks as he merrily stomps towards said window. Being only one floor up, he was confident in his ability to land without needing to use his biotics. The impact will definitely suck for his passenger though. Shouldn't cause her any damage, mind, but it
The asari on his shoulder isn't really in a poisition to voice her opinion about the inpending jump, nor does she show any reaction to the landing.
Foyna leaves the asari alive as she stands up to hurry over to the window. She helps Oras down first with a biotic field before using the same on herself to slow the fall.
Oras ups his pace to catch up with the krogan once down. "Where are we taking her?" he asks. "Could find location of nearest NAPF."
Gren looks towards the two as they land, he himself having landed with little issue. He barks a short laugh and says, "Isn't this bitch wanted? She got a bounty? I didn't bother to check much." He decides, however, they can walk and talk. No point sticking around for too long. "'Sides, if we're going to hand her over to the NAPF, we could've just left her sorry behind there, right?"
Oras nods. "Yes, the bounty is forty thousand credits, but we did not go through paperwork ahead of time," he says with a shrug. He wasn't in this for the credits anyway. "Still, handing her over ourselves would reduce her chance of coming to and getting away from slim to none." He sends over the coordinates to the nearest station.
They round the corner and get to a more populated street. The explosion from earlier has made the people here wary, and they give the krogan a wide berth.
The rain makes itself apparent again as this street has only a few bridges above covering their view of the sky.
A pair of skycars bearing NAPF's logo fly by overhead, turning into the street they came from, but they don't seem to have noticed the group.
Gren huffs. Paperwork. Right. He fucking hated this damn planet. At least on Omega you could dump the idiot alive or dead on the table and get paid regardless. "Fine," he grumbled as he started heading towards the nearest station given to him. Gren barely even registered the crowds of people as he trudged through the streets. By this point, his wounds had begun to heal already and he was dying for a drink. Maybe even something
They make their way to the location unimpeded. The street is less crowded than they one they came from, but there are still people going between the businesses. The people here are less on edge too as they might not have heard the blast, but the group does get some odd looks.
Four fully armored officers, all asari, emerge from the police station as they get near. They each hold a Katana shotgun, but they don't train them on the trio. "Stop," the nearest of them orders. "Keep your hands where we can see them. Any use of biotics will be considered hostile action. Are we clear?"
Gren tilts his head for a second as they approached the officers. He looks to his prisoner, then to the officers. A pause. "Aight." He raises his hands, which promptly causes him to drop the woman onto the ground with a thud. His helmet thankfully hides the shit eating grin that he was wearing. Gren took far too much satisfaction from that. Far too much.
The asari comes to after landing on the ground and tries to get to her feet. An officer's shotgun aimed at her makes her freeze up halfway, though, as her concussed mind is still able to put two and two together.
A pale blue asari steps out of the police station and jogs up to the armored officer that just barked order. She's wearing plain clothes with a NAPF vest slung over it. "You didn't happen to be in the block across from Ferrux a few minutes ago, did you?"
Oras gives a small nod at the question. "Yes, ma'am," he says, but looks to Gren to explain as all attention is still on him.
Gren stands still in silence. And more silence. Then, when no one elaborates further, he looks over his shoulder to the duo behind and besides him. The krogan lets out a long and weary sigh before turning back to the officers and nods, lowering his hands only so he can gesture at the prisoner on the floor. "Yup. Had a scuffle with this bitch, previously had attacked my employer numerous times and... because I am such a paragon
of law and order, decided it would only be proper to turn her over to the authorities after... apprehending her." Diplomatic skills for the win.
One of the armored officers head over to the woman and forces her to her feet, while another keeps her weapon trained on her. The one that barked orders as well as the last are still focused on the krogan.
The pale asari lights up. "You're bounty hunters, then?" she asked. "I assume you have paperwork to show for that?"
Gren 's eye twitches beneath the helmet and he slowly shakes his head. He spreads his arms and, through gritted teeth, says, "Nope... just... good citizens." That hurt to say. A lot.
One of the armored officer removes the asari's helmet, and if Gren hazards a look behind him he'll recognize that they have got the correct one. She then runs a scan on her with her omni-tool before confiscating her biotic amplifier.
The pale asari sighs. "You mercs never do," she says, the disappointment clear in her voice. "Do any of you have an up to date license to do security work in Nos Astra, at least?"
The pale asari brings up her omni-tool to snap a quick picture of Foyna to search up. "With credentials like that, you really have no excuse to half-ass this, young lady," she says, followed by a laugh, "but I didn't last this long down here without knowing some beurocratic acrobics to streamline workflows, ...as they probably say topside."