Nyx rapped her knuckles on the Blue Suns pilot's helmet. "I'm behind you."

The mercenary turned around with a vicious snarl. "Who do you-"

He stopped with his sudden anger when he laid eyes on Nyx's helmet. "A-ah, so you're here, huh? You weren't joking," he queried. His twin pairs of eyes scanned the surroundings. Probably because he was nervous of her presence. People who crossed Nyx usually walked into alleys and didn't come back out.

He heard a scoff come from her, which was accompanied with her jerking her head towards the sky car the mercenary had been leaning onto. "Let's go already. I have an itchy trigger finger, and if I don't scratch it... well, let's just say you don't want to be around."

The car's door opened really quickly.

When Nyx stepped out she was greeted with the boss of the Blue Suns in Omega, Tarak. He nodded toward Nyx upon her arrival. "Nyx, pleasure meeting you. I hope your business is running smoothly?"

She shrugged as she fingered a submachine gun on her hip. "Don't beat around the dead varren, Tarak. How is the assault on our cute vigilante going? I saw a vid with him wrestling with Garm. He has some serious reach, don't you think?" Nyx giggled to herself, knowing that it would freak Tarak out enough to not notice the green spots nearing his unwisely uncovered head.

Tarak leaned back a bit. "Right..." he drawled.

A bullet whizzed past them, almost hitting Nyx's chin, burying into the pilot's thigh. Blood began to spill out as a shout of pain emanated from the merc's mouth.

"Should we take cover?" she sardonically mentioned, but without waiting for a response she shoved Tarak as a bullet went past him and into the unfortunate merc's head.

Nyx had to stop and survey the surroundings. In front of her were three people. One salarian with a missing horn and an STG medic outfit, and two human women, one of whom was wearing a skin-tight white cat-suit and had one hell of an ass. 'Now that's an ass I'd want to motorboat!'

Nyx had thankfully entered quietly enough that they hadn't heard her. She did note that the woman that didn't have the great ass was kneeling down and fiddling with a control panel in front of the YMIR mech. Nyx mentally shrugged and walked through the room.

She hailed sergeant Cathka after brushing past some obviously amateur freelancers. 'They're not wearing the right sized suits, their weapons don't fit their frames, and they are standing too laxly. Nay, I say, nay.'

"Cathka, right?" she called, leaning on the batarian's back, throwing her arms around his neck. "I've got something to ask, sweetie," she uttered sensually.

Cathka's body went rigid as he visibly tried to control his breathing. "Y-Yeah, I'm Cathka," he stammered. "You're Nyx, r-right? What do you want?"

She sighed good-naturedly as small turquoise spots seeped into his ears and nose without his detection. "I'm just thinking. Don't you think that Tarak is handling this situation poorly?"

She didn't wait for a response. She knew that she already had Cathka in her clutches. "I really don't doubt that you could be a much better boss than Tarak. He hasn't been dealing with the Archangel fiasco as he could have. I know you could have dealt with it much better. So much better..."

"R-Really?" he said, looking into the engine he was supposed to be fixing.

Nyx murmured into his ear. "But of course. You have the discipline, the authority. You have the aura, and Tarak? Tarak has had his ear cut by a varren. Twice. By the same varren."

Cathka laughed half-heartedly. "So… I would be a better leader?"

Nyx let out a throaty chuckle, letting go of Cathka. "A much better one."

She leaned in conspiratorially. "But I think it's best that you don't mention that I said that. It would hurt my image if I showed favouritism."

Cathka slammed his fist into his palm. "Alright! I can do this!"

He marched off towards the buildings. "Tarak! Tarak!"

And off he walked.

Nyx waited for a few minutes, just to make sure that Cathka wouldn't chicken out.

Shouts came from the opposite side of the trench. Not much later, the trio Nyx had seen with the mech walked up to her. The red-headed leader strode up to her and looked at her approximately where her eyes were. "We're here to talk to Sergeant Cathka."

A gunshot that was definitely not from Archangel's direction sounded out. "That was him being shot, probably in the head."

The red-head blinked in surprise. "Okay then... why exactly?"

Nyx smirked beneath her helmet and shifted her posture to match her attitude. "He may or may not have decided to voice some rebellious thoughts that I may or may not have planted in his head."

The ass-woman scoffed lightly, but obviously indignantly. "And why exactly would you do that?"

Nyx turned her head to look at the apparently Australian ass-woman "Why were you fiddling around with the mech I sold to those Eclipse goons?"

Mordin blinked at Nyx. "Ah, Nyx of Suit Up! Have purchased weapons and medical supplies from your stores. Good quality, fair prices. Trustworthy person." He inhaled deeply. "Rare on Omega."

Shepard thought to herself for a few moments before looking up at Nyx, albeit with a distrusting overtone. "So if we go by what Mordin says, you're a person worth trusting." She sighed before answering Nyx. "We're here to make sure that Archangel gets out of this mess in one piece."

Underneath her helmet, Nyx grinned. "What a coincidence. That's my objective as well. I believe we can find a middle ground, don't you Commander Shepard?"

Shepard glanced around quickly before glaring at Nyx. "So you know I'm alive again. Mind telling me how that is?"

"You and your ship were tagged the second you left the mass relay, and I like to keep up with potential customers. It's all business, of course."

"Of course," Shepard repeated dejectedly. "So, you're not going to out us to these guys?"

Nyx shrugged. "Why would I want to do that? We both want to see Archangel leave this place with all his limbs still attached. It wouldn't do to have his reach impaired. The best way to do that is to work together."

The ass-woman - 'Definitely need to think of a better name… nah.' - stepped forward, her posture screaming objection. "Shepard-" A turquoise spot floated into her ear unseen. "I completely agree with her. We could use her help."

Shepard blinked at Miranda's sudden lack of quiet insubordination. Mordin however began studying her intently. "Ah, yes, have heard of this! Rumours of Nyx being extraordinarily persuasive, even to ludicrous levels. First time seeing it in person." He took a deep breath. "Fascinating."

Miranda gaped for a few seconds before her lips twisted into a scowl. "You mind controlled me?!"

Nyx waved her hand. "Not really, I just decided to… force your hand. That's all."

Miranda's hand clenched into a fist and shook, biotic energy roiling around it violently. "You. Forced. My. Hand," she gritted out, as if trying to convince herself of it.

"Basically yes. Pardon my asking, but would you happen to be hard of hearing?"

Before Miranda could snap and toss Nyx into a stasis, Shepard stepped in. "Um, guys, as entertaining as it would be to watch you two go at it, Tarak just gave the signal on the comms. If we're getting Archangel out of here, it's going to have to be now."

Nyx rolled her eyes, which was unseen by the rest of them. "Let's go. He can't hold his own for much longer. He's been there, what, a day now?"

"Three days, five hours, twenty-seven minutes, fifteen seconds" deep breath. " Give or take fourty-five minutes."

Nyx blinked slapping her faceplate, "I don't how I should feel. Proud my friend held out that long, creeped out you know that much, or depressed about the quality of my clients because let me tell you, even by these guys standards, that is just sad."

Shepard shook her head. "Let's go."

They jumped over the cover at an almost casual pace with Shepard at the front. They strolled forward with a firm pace. One of the freelancers met them halfway into the doorway. "Any suggestions of getting past Archangel's fire?"

"I can think of one." And with that, Nyx fired her pistol, putting a bullet in the freelancer's face. She looked up and waved at where the sniper fire had been coming from. A thermal clip was tossed down in response. She expertly caught it in her palm and shoved it into her pistol. "Open up like the Lephantis' mouth and taste the rainbow," Nyx whispered to herself.

Mordin was the only one who heard the whisper, and he cocked his head to the side, wondering what she meant. He didn't ask, however, as a mercenary pointed an assault rifle at the squad. "They're with Arch-!" That was as far as the merc got before Miranda's Warp turned him into a cloud of crimson mist.

Luckily, it appeared that no one else had managed to hear the two freelancers' demises, so the group was able to swiftly move through the apartment unimpeded, swiftly and silently dispatching the mercs as they went.

On the second floor, three mercs were positioned in front of a locked door. One was crouched down, fiddling with the red holographic display, while two others stood behind him. Silently, Mordin and Shepard creeped up on them. Simultaneously, they struck.

Shepard shoved her then-sparking omni-tool into the gap between the merc's helmet and armour, while Mordin clamped his three-fingered hand over his own opponent's mouth and proceeded to spew fire from his omni-tool downwards into his body.

The merc in front of the door was oblivious until Nyx tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm working as fast as I can here, it's not my fault this guy's got state-of-the-art tech! You got any better ideas?"

"Just one." Nyx forced the freelancer around and shoved her gun into his face. Before he could cry out, she painted the door a whole new colour.

The display turned green. Nyx twirled her gun around her finger. "See? Open sesame."

The door opened with a small hiss. Within was a turian in blue armour wearing a helmet. He didn't look at them immediately when they entered the room, instead opting for aiming out the window with his gun. He took a small moment to wave at them before using both his hands to stabilize his Widow sniper rifle. "Archangel?" Shepard asked, holstering her pistol.

A shot fired from the high-tech sniper rifle, granting the last merc on the bridge a new breathing hole.

A sigh came out of the turian as he slowly made his way to a sofa. He kicked back, leaning the sniper on the edge of the sofa. The turian gently took off his helmet, showing his tired but happy eyes. "Look who came back from the dead. Hello, Shepard."

Shepard blinked. "G-Garrus?!"

Nyx blinked - which no one could actually see - before pointing a finger at Garrus. "Hold on a sec, you're Garrus Vakarian, the C-Sec cop that went rogue and helped Shepard total that huge Geth dreadnought thing?"

"It wasn't a Geth dreadnought, I'll tell you that much," Garrus mumbled under his breath, though Nyx still caught it.

Shepard on the other hand... "Geth dreadnought!?" She wheeled on the buxom Australian agent. "They're still- you know what, no, I don't care."

Shepard growled before she shook her head. "That isn't important right now. What's important is," she pointed out the window, "That," she said. The group looked out, and lo and behold, LOKI mechs and Eclipse mercenaries prepared to storm the bridge to the makeshift hold.

Nyx cracked her neck, and casually bowed into cover. "Well, 'Archangel', want to turn this into a slaughter-fest?"

Garrus shrugged. "Like the fourth job we did together?"

There was no response from Nyx at all. It seemed as if he expected that, because he turned to Shepard and her two compatriots. "Take the floor level, we'll provide covering fire."

Shepard frowned before ducking into cover. "Miranda, Mordin, you two go down, I'll stay here too!" She didn't turn to see that they heeded her orders. They did, with slight hesitance. Shepard glanced at the full-bodied individual. "No offence, but I don't trust you, Nyx."

"Well, now's as good a time as any to start," Nyx grumbled to herself.

"Shepard, there are several times over the last two years where I would have ended up out an airlock minus a helmet without Nyx. She's shifty, but trustworthy," Garrus said as he scoped and dropped an Eclipse heavy-trooper aiming a rocket launcher.

"I heard that you had a squad. A squad that got betrayed," Shepard tossed an Incinerate out. "And she's the only member left standing."

Garrus growled and proceeded to triple-tap a LOKI mech. "It wasn't Nyx, I can guarantee you that."

Shepard looked down her pistol's ironsight, tearing apart a LOKI mech's neck wires and structure. "You already know who it is, Garrus?"

Garrus ducked behind his cover as a bullet flew past his head, missing his fringe by just an inch. "I really don't think this is the best of times."

Shepard's omni-tool glowed, and a large ball shone behind an Eclipse mercenary. The drone shocked the merc, forcing him out of cover and into a hail of bullets from Shepard's M-4 Shuriken. "You have a point. So now what? Just hunker down and fight until they run out of guys."

Garrus peeked out and aimed down his scope. Before he fired however, he froze and stared. "That was the initial plan, but that is making me think that it's not such a good plan anymore."

Shepard and Nyx glanced at Garrus before seeing what he was seeing.

Shepard grinned. "I don't think it's that much of a problem, Garrus."

The YMIR mech raised its guns and, to the shock of most of the defenders, opened fired, pelting Miranda's and Mordin's cover below. Garrus unloaded several rounds into its shields. "I fail to see how this thing isn't a problem!"

Shepard fried the shields of a merc following behind the mech. "I don't understand! I hacked its identify-friend-foe protocols! It should be aiming for the Eclipse!"

Nyx grunted. "Mercenaries might generally be stupid, but Jaroth has a decent head. He must have run a scan on the thing's systems before setting it loose, ensuring that his flunkies didn't screw anything up."

Garrus braced himself as the entire structure shook from one of the YMIR's rockets. "Well, unless anybody has a new plan, this entire place is coming down on us!"

Nyx turned around and leaned against her cover, her shoulders relaxing and the grip on her submachine gun slacking. "I have one idea."

Shepard popped out her spent thermal clip and popped in a new one. "And that would be?"

"Just watch."

All of a sudden, there was a warping sound, similar to a mass effect field. The YMIR mech glowed with a bright green hue, before staggering for only a few seconds before turning its guns on the Eclipse. "Opening fire," the mechanized voice of the giant mech tore through.

"What the hell? Why's it working now?" Shepard cursed. "Was it delayed?" Garrus agreed to Shepard's question, and looked over at Nyx.

Nyx chuckled. "Nope. I just fiddled a bit around with its electromagnetic energy, and bam-wham-alakazam, there you go, a dangerous YMIR mech out for blood."

Massive explosions rocketed from the barricade opposite the defending forces, courtesy of missiles. "It's going to run out of ammo in a bit, so let's use it to our advantage and take out Jaroth!" Garrus exclaimed, and rose up from his position, scope in front of his visor.

Shepard and Nyx responded by providing covering fire for both Garrus and the mech on their side, along with Mordin's and Miranda's combined onslaught of tech and biotic attacks.

Within minutes Jaroth had had enough, and personally peeked his head over the barricade. And personally had his brains splattered on the floor by a pissed off turian.

"Scoped and dropped!" Garrus exclaimed victoriously.

Shepard dropped back against the cover, sighing in relief. She glanced over at Nyx. "You knew about the YMIR, didn't you?"

Nyx nodded. "I sell merchandise to everyone on Omega. Eclipse are always buying LOKI mechs, so when they buy YMIR mechs, I know."

Garrus gave the turian version of a frown. "What else did you sell lately?"

"Lots of drills, lots of explosive devices, and a gunship. Why?"

The entire building shook as explosions could be heard coming from beneath the makeshift stronghold.

"Oh, no reason," Garrus sighed. "Just a thought."

Shepard scowled to herself before rushing downstairs. "I'll take care of them. Nyx, you're with me, Mordin, get up here and back up Garrus!"

"Aw, don't you trust me?" Nyx jokingly asked as she hurried after the Commander.

Shepard stopped and turned around to scrutinize Nyx. "Until further notice, no, I don't trust, period."

Nyx stopped and eyed Shepard in return. After a moment of silence, she nodded sagely and spoke. "Good policy."

Shepard ignored Nyx's taunt and continued down the stairs, meeting Mordin half-way. "Still though," Nyx began. "It's better to find somebody to trust sooner or later, right?"

Shepard stopped and looked at Nyx with a hardened gaze. "That's what I hope I've done. Now it's just a matter of getting him out alive."

The door under the stairs opened as the two approached it, and running down the stairs after that, Shepard continued talking. "Besides, there are people I trust, people who I'm willing to die for."

Nyx was quiet as she followed Shepard. Her thoughts brought her back to the times long past. She remembered the times she had slain Corpus, Grineer, Infested, and… other unspeakable things. Her trust had been firmly placed in her fellow Tenno, even those she disagreed extremely much with on a personal level. They were Tenno, they trusted each other. For if not each other, then who else?

The fact that they had all spent so much time killing those against them together did play in, of course.

They reached three open doorways. "Seems like this is where they intend to come in, huh?" Nyx grunted. "We can't split up, we're not three people."

Shepard frowned, and looked back at the stairs that brought them down to the level. "I think we should hunker down. What are the chances of them overrunning submachine gun fire?"

"And from both sides, too," Nyx whispered.

Shepard nodded. "I want an explanation on that later. I just need to know if you can do the same to living things too. It gives us a great tactical advantage."

Nyx nodded while she was running up the wall beside the stairs, briefly making Shepard do a double take. "How do you-" but she cut herself off. "No, I'm not going to ask."

Nyx chuckled as she crouched behind the railing. "Okay… they're going to arrive in three… two… one…"

Nyx pulled the trigger on her high-end submachine gun, and sprayed the incoming Blood Pack mercenaries with bullets. Shepard followed a scant second later.

But there were far too many vorcha, varren, and krogans for a mere two submachine guns to take care of, so Nyx did the clever thing, and zapped a krogan wielding a shotgun and some heavy armour. The krogan briefly gave off a turquoise glow and staggered, before he lifted his gun and began opening fire behind the lines.

It was enough to give Shepard and Nyx some breathing room. The krogan was quickly downed, but there was a pause where confusion spilled over the Blood Pack.

Another krogan with a shotgun opened fire, and he too was quickly killed. Another, and another, and another, and soon, there were almost none left. Then the varren started pouncing on the vorcha, and all in all, mass hysteria followed. The Blood Pack assault was thwarted, not by sheer firepower and numbers, but by themselves.

"We should go back upstairs-"

Shepard's stunned command was oh so rudely interrupted by Garm's screams of anger, of pure rage. "Archangel! I will kill you myself!"

"I don't suppose you can use that mind control thing on him, right?"

"Tried. Didn't work."

"Well shit."

Nyx and Shepard heard a small tink. Looking down, they saw a small metal ball. "Gre-"

There was a loud boom and then everything went pain.