Near Archangel's hideout.

Jumping out of the vehicle, the four Spartans racked their weapons' bolts, feeding rounds into the chambers of each gun. They checked armors, gear and everything necessary for them as they walked toward another Batarian. Jonah was first to walk up and ask "This where we go to hunt Archangel?" and the Batarian nodded. "He's across the bridge in the far back. But he and his Asari bitch created a killzone. Anyone who peeks out or tries to rush over the bridge dies. Go talk to sergeant Kafka if you want more info."

"Roger that. Will do." Jonah noted. The Batarian huffed, then walked away, leaving the four alone. The boy signaled his three allies, then showed them to follow. As they walked through the small boulevard, they saw them. Pirates, bounty hunters and slavers alike. Human, those ugly-ass Batarians and a lot of other species, including a couple of Lizard-like ones. The large pathway they walked through was littered with body-bags.

"This is unnerving." Damian said as they walked through into some narrow corridors. The others hummed in agreement... As they walked into a room filled to the brim with what seemed to be mercs and mob bosses, one of them caught Jonah's attention almost right off the bat. A woman, without any armor, human, with blonde hair caught in a ponytail behind her head, with some loose strands at the front and with a burn mark across her right side, was seated near a locked door. Six other men were around her, hauling military-grade weaponry.

The woman herself was a beautiful one. She had blue eyes, one more lightly-colored than the other due to the burn and was wearing a scarlet business suit with a knee-length skirt, black leggings and a pair of high-heeled shoes. Despite it being hidden out of sight, Jonah could see a heavy pistol tucked away under her coat. In her hand was a Cigar of an odd brand...

The woman gazed upon him now, having turned away from lighting her cigar. He hummed, turned toward her, then walked up to her. Her men seemed to tense as the heavily-armored and over-armed Spartan approached her, but she showed them to calm down and stood up on her feet from the seated position. Taking a puff of her cigar, she nodded to Jonah, then greeted him "Privet." in Russian. Jonah nodded and said "Hello to you too... I guess... Are you Sergeant Kafka?"

The woman raised a brow, looking slightly offended, then answered "No, thankfully. Batarians sicken me... Call me Balalaika."

The Spartan looked at the woman. She was tall. About as tall as him out of armor. Just a forehead smaller thanks to the armor, so that put them on even footing... He sighed, nodded and said "Lieutenant Jonah." extending his gloved hand. Balalaika gripped it firmly and shook it, then said "A pleasure." giving a calm smile to the soldier. Jonah crossed his arms and asked "You and your boys here to hunt Archangel too?"

"Us. Oh, Goodness, no. We're here just to watch the event unfold. It's not everyday you get to see so much of the Galaxy's scum in one place." Balalaika told him with a calm demeanor. The Spartan simply hummed, then said "Presume you want to know why we're here?" to which the woman nodded and returned "Seeing someone in Powered Armor is not something usually seen on Omega, so yes, I am a little curious. Or was when you first appeared."

"Huh?" The four Spartans blurted out in unison.

"You are Spartan soldiers, working for a revived Commander Shepard, to bring in Archangel without killing him for the purpose of recruitment. Am I not correct?" The woman nonchalantly pointed out, giving a smirk to them as she saw visors depolarize to reveal wide eyes. "I have ears and eyes everywhere, my dear young ones. Even in Cerberus, despite that moron known as the Illusive Man being unaware of them." and she finished off with a calm "But I'm more curious of you than anyone else."

"Err... Jonah?" Kalmiya finally spoke out of the helmet speakers "So I've looked up records of this Balalaika on the Extranet... Yeah, try not to piss her off. She's a Mob Boss for one of the most powerful mafias out there. And she runs her work on the Citadel's Lower Wards and mostly in the Terminus systems..."

Jonah sighed. Another Mob Boss... Always. Fucking. Always. "Curious about what aspects of us?"

"Who you are." The woman said. "Now, we could talk here, but I think you have a job to do and I, a show to watch. If you ever drop by the Citadel, look me up in the Lower Wards. A small, privately-owned property in the Red Light district known as Hotel Moscow." and she smiled "I have a feeling we'd do great business together. Dosvedanya, Jonah." She then finished off in Russian, before stepping away. Just her military, straight and unflinching walk was enough to send a shiver up even Jonah's spine.

"... Wow." Damian simply uttered out.

"Wow's right. Even I felt chills." Kalmiya returned with a shudder. Jonah sighed, then showed the Spartans to follow, silently moving out into the Corridors again. As they walked by a door, Kalmiya gave a beep, then said "We got something here. I'm detecting dormant Combat Systems. Mechs. One YMIR." she stated. "Keep me in range for... oh, nevermind. Done." She then said gleefully "I've reconfigured its targeting parameters... A little surprise for when they drop it into the battle."

"Well... This is turning into an easy-go mission." Jonah denoted. "Thanks, K."

"Hopefully so, sir." Andrew returned, checking his equipment rather quickly. "I don't wanna deal with getting shot in the head right now." He then murmured as he racked the bolt of his AR. The team walked down the corridor, where several barricades were erected, with Mercs in all kinds of armors manning them. Freelancers and some of the 3 main crime syndicates.

Sitting on the left was a gunship that was being worked on by what looked to be a Batarian in heavy armor. Guarding it were three more men with no allegiance to any kind of Syndicate... The Spartans took their chances, walking past them toward the man fixing the gunship, before Jonah spoke "You Sergeant Kafka?" to which the Batarian, a cigar in his mouth and a tool in his right hand, turned to them and nodded.

"Yeah, that's me. You here for the Reward too, Newbies?" The xeno asked, leaning against the vehicle.

"Could say that." The Spartan Lieutenant noted, crossing his arms. "What's up with the Gunship?"

Kafka rolled his eyes "Archangel and his Asari bitch gave her a few new exhaust holes, I can tell you that much." before looking at the Spartans and adding "You four are kitted out for war... Perhaps with you lot, we may have a better chance at finally punching through the bridge and ending that little asshat."

"Sure." The Spartan noted absentmindedly, looking at the building as sniper shots rang past them, killing a few more mercs. "So, I'm guessing you send us in with the next wave, then the Gunship and whatever other units you have follow up?" The Spartan then turned to the Batarian, who nodded calmly, before the com console rang. That was fast...

"This is it! Go!" The Sergeant said "I gotta fix this bird before they need it..."

The Spartan, as the Batarian went to work, saw one of his tools, an electric welder, laying out in the open... He walked to it, took it from the table, then walked behind kafka as the man was busy with the ship and whispered "You're workin' too hard, buddy. Take a nap." before stabbing the electric tool into the man's back and covering his mouth as the shock traveled through his body.

The Spartan then turned to his trio of elite badasses and spoke "Move out. Over the barricade... Let's fuckin' show these mercs how the big boys do it!" before drawing his rifle. The four men rushed over the edge, jumping out onto the bridge as a single shot passed by Jonah's head. They dashed past a squadron of Mercs that fell, gunned down by what sounded like a circular saw going off. Jonah looked up to see a pair of combat turrets firing from the top and felt the rounds on his own shields. They flashed and lowered by a quarter before the Spartan could find cover.

He peeked over, seeing the turrets firing on them and a crouched figure utilizing an Omnitool to target them, whilst firing a heavy pistol with the other free hand. Whoever they were, they looked humanoid... The Spartans launched forward, with Damian providing Sniper cover(by missing and firing above their targets' heads) as they advanced. They'd reached halfway down the bridge, below the Turrets' arc of fire and Jonah swiveled about, drawing his Magnum...

Two shots to the head killed a Mercenary, sending him tumbling back in front of stunned comrades, before Jonah gave the hand signal and spoke into comms "Start firing on the Mercs. We're here to talk to Archangel, not kill him." as they calmly all opened up on the men and women. Atop the walls of the compound of Archangel, a young Asari woman regarded what she saw o her screen with a smirk.

"Well, would you look at that." She smirked "Yo, Archangel. See what the big boys are doing?"

"I have them scoped in... And I have a feeling they're actually friends to us... At least for now." The Turian sniper said, looking down the scope of his Mantis sniper rifle. "Redirect the turrets to fire on the other Mercs."

The Spartans stood on their feet, rifles chattering as they dashed toward the entry of the apartment. A few overturned Sofas and dead mercs greeted them inside. The rearguard, Damian and Andrew, gunned down more advancing bastards, whilst Jonah and Irene hauling ass up front. The girl saw tubular devices on the floor as they moved for the stairwell in the back, then said "Looks like they were planning to torch the place..."

"Well, we got'em. Kalmiya?" Jonah noted, scanning the surrounding railing and the open walkway up top, that led to a door to the room that was now being used as a sniper perch by Archangel and his companion. Damian's sniper rang one last time, before Jonah turned to see the retreating Mercenaries running back toward the barricade. The Sniper and his companion turned to the Lieutenant, before Damian dropped an empty heat sink and loaded in a fresh one.

"Bombs are disarmed." Kalmiya said through com to all four Spartans. "Detecting two above... Be careful."

"We got it." Jonah said, then signaled the Spartans to join up with him. The four took a diamond formation, with Irene flanking his left, Andrew, the right, overwatching the window and Damian taking up rearguard. As they moved up the stairs, the Spartans swept the hallway ahead, which had four sets of lockers, with their gazes, before they moved for the door. The trio of Spartans behind Jonah took breaching positions, whilst the Spartan activated his Omnitool and swept it over the emerald hologram. It vanished moments later and the door slid open with a hiss... And two guns appeared in front of him, with a blue-skinned woman behind them.

Her upside-down face and smirk were at Jonah's head, guns facing his helmet. The racking of weapons behind Jonah took his attention. He raised his hand and showed the Spartan to lower the weapons, then lowered his own rifle and said "We're friendly..." calmly. The blue-skinned woman dropped from her elevated, upside-down position onto her knees, then bounced onto her feet.

She was clad in a black armor with blue outlines. On her head there was no hair to speak of, instead of it being short tentacles that matched the skin color of the woman, which was a darker shade of blue. She turned toward him, her blue eyes staring at the armored soldier before her as she settled her guns on her hip mag-locks. With a voice as smooth as butter and sweet to the ear, she answered "So are we... For now." and smirked.

"Ho-ho-holy shit." Irene smirked behind her SPI armor's helmet. "Did the aliens suddenly get cuter or is it just me?"

"Irene." Damian muttered, whilst the alien girl simply chuckled.

"Sorry, chief... Go on." She apologized awkwardly to Jonah.

"We're here to talk to Archangel." The soldier said, sliding his weapon on his back. "I'm Lieutenant Jonah. Hades One. Kids behind me are my team's second half. 5, 6 and 7. Damian, Irene and Andrew, respectively. Our commander, a woman by the name of Shepard, sent us to recruit him for a check-in on the human colony disappearances." He then explained, crossing his arms. The woman raised a brow.

"Shepard, huh...?" She said calmly, then stepped out of the way, to let into view what looked like a man in a blue carapace, with a long-shot sniper rifle. A Mantis... The creature turned around, setting the sniper onto a weapons crate next to him. He removed his helmet as he turned around, revealing an alien with what looked like a thick exoskeleton... Mandibles and strange jaws... He resembled an Elite... Enough so that Damian nearly drew his M6 out of habit.

"... Shepard, you said?" The Turian soldier said, mocking a raised brow, one of his blue face tattoos moving. Garrus Vakarian, the Turian sniper elite now known as Archangel gave a mock human smile, by extending his mandibles outward.

"Haven't heard that name in years..."