Chapter 19: Company Has Arrived

London

Buckingham Palace Med Bay

8:20 AM Galactic Standard Time

"How much longer is this going to take?" Shau asked, growing impatient as Nepturus fitted her with a powered leg brace.

"Unless you want this thing to fall apart on you, I need to make sure it's secure." Nepturus used his omni-tool to fasten a few of the brace's pieces in place as the others tended to their own wounds. Mike had just applied a bit of medi-gel to the cut he'd received on his head earlier, as well as several others he'd gotten from the shards of glass from the many display cases that had been destroyed near him. Alaia was checking her suit for any punctures or ruptures of any kind as she had been taught to do since childhood. Tarok simply allowed his wounds to heal naturally, barely thinking twice about his race's remarkable healing rate.

"I still can't believe that maniac destroyed his own transport." Mike said, still somewhat angry at Chamberlain's use of his father against him. "I knew he was crazy, but I didn't think he was stupid."

"I did," Tarok added, "though, to be fair, I generally assume any human is stupid...no offense." He half-joked.

"None taken." Mike sarcastically replied before looking to Alaia. "Is your suit alright?"

"Everything's green here, but please don't start obsessing over me if I do get a cut here and there. I brought enough antibiotics to help if I get an infection." Alaia then switched on her omni-tool, quickly punching in several commands.

"Checking your messages, kid?" Shau asked, wincing a second later as Nepturus adjusted her new leg brace.

"No, I'm trying to see if I can find any friendly comm channels. Still nothing."

"I doubt any survivors still left in the city are going to risk detection by sending out a comm signal. Besides, the Reapers seem to have pretty much blocked all comms anyway." Nepturus explained as he activated Shau's leg brace, the device whirring to life as the lights on the side lit up. "Okay, you're good to go. Just don't go jumping off buildings and you should be fine."

Shau shook her head at his joke as she hopped off the operating table to find the brace taking all the weight off of her broken leg. Though at first reluctant to thank a turian, Shau eventually managed to say, "Hey...thanks for the help."

"Don't mention it. Now that we're all patched up, we need to discuss our next move."

"Well," Mike said, "it's obvious that we can't stay here. If what Chamberlain said was true, we can expect a lot of Reapers here any time now."

Alaia then asked, "Well then, where do we go from here?"

"Good question." Tarok added. "It's not like the Alliance has set up an easy to find shelter."

"Reptile's right. Right now, the Alliance is going to focus on gathering any civilians they can find, but they won't put out a message telling people where to meet. That's just begging those things to come find them." Shau grabbed her pistol off of the table next to her, checking it as she talked.

"So the question is whether to go looking for other survivors or focus on finding a way off planet." Mike said.

"We're in no position to go out on rescue missions." Nepturus said, "We barely have enough supplies for ourselves. We need to focus on staying alive."

"But what about everyone else? If there are other people alive in the city, they may need help." Alaia replied.

Nepturus started filling a bag with as many medical supplies as he could. "I have to agree with Tarok on this one. Trying to find other people will only wear down our resources and put us into more contact with the Reapers. We need to find some place to hold out until rescue comes."

"If it comes." Tarok added, cynically.

"Tarok has a point," Mike said, "you saw what those things did to the Alliance ships above the city when the attack started. If the Alliance is coming back, they're going to wait until they can gather as many ships as they can. That could take weeks, months...even years."

"Not to mention the fact that other planets are being attacked. Earth may not be the galaxy's top priority right now." Nepturus added.

"Which brings up another question," Alaia started, "where do we go if we get off the planet?"

"Kid, we'll have to deal with that when we get to that point," Shau put her hand on Alaia's shoulder, "we need to focus on our current problems; starting with where we should go now."

The room fell silent for a moment, each person trying to think of a suitable plan. After a few seconds, Mike had a thought, "Hey Alaia, bring up that map of London on your omni-tool." Curious as to what he had in mind, she did as he asked. Mike put his finger at a point near the center of the map. "Okay, right now we're here, at Buckingham Palace. Which means if we have wide open gardens to the North, West, and East of us. So the easiest route for us to sneak out of the palace without being seen is due South."

"What if the Reapers come in from the South?" Nepturus asked.

Tarok approached the map. "The smart move would be to wait to see where they're going to make their approach, then plan an escape route around that."

"Too risky," Mike said, "if they manage to surround the building before we can react, it'll make any plans we have a moot point."

"Why can't we just bunker down in the palace? I'm sure we could hold them off with a place this big." Alaia suggested.

Shau elaborated, "The size of this place is the problem, kid. There's only five of us here, we'd be stretched too thin trying to cover all of the entrances."

"Alright, so far we've figured out that if we wait too long to leave, we're dead; but if we leave too soon without knowing where the Reapers are coming from, we're dead. Things just get better by the second." Mike said, rubbing his temples.

"The way I see it," Nepturus started, "we're more likely to be wiped out if we wait for them to overwhelm us here, so we have a better chance if we leave as soon as possible."

"Going out into a war zone blind...well, at least this plan doesn't lack in suspense." Tarok chuckled.

"We're all agreed then, we'll gather as many supplies from the palace as we can carry and head South." Mike concluded.

"Still, we can't just wander around the city blindly. We need a destination." Nepturus scanned the map for any places he thought would be suitable before stopping at one spot. "There, New Scotland Yard. It's only a few blocks away from here and we'll be able to restock our ammo there."

"You sure the place is safe?" Shau asked.

"It's the headquarters for the Metropolitan Police, so it's probably one of the more fortified areas in the city."

Alaia became nervous, "Oh...great."

"What's the problem?" Mike asked.

"Well...I didn't exactly start off on the right foot with the local police force."

"How so?"

"...I sort of kicked one of them in the groin."

"What?"

"He was giving me a hard time for no reason! He deserved it."

"HA! What I would have paid to see that." Tarok laughed.

"I'm sure if he's still there he'll look past it, considering the giant machines tearing up the planet." Mike reassured her.

Nepturus zipped up the bag of medical supplies he'd been collecting. "Alright, I think we're good on medi-gel, now we need to see if they have any food lying around."

"Ammo would be nice, too." Shau added.

"Okay, we'll split up and collect as many supplies as we can before we head out. One group will look for food, the other will scrounge up any ammo or guns they can find." Mike suggested.

"I volunteer to look for food." Alaia raised her hand, already feeling her stomach rumbling.

"I'll go with you." Nepturus said. "What about you, Mike?"

Mike looked over to Tarok and Shau, "I'm sure you two will want to stockpile the weapons in this place. Need any help?"

The two veterans looked at one another for a moment, somewhat wary of one another, before Tarok answered, "I guess we'll be alright...as long as she doesn't chip a nail."

"If I chip off anything, it'll be my foot in your ass." Shau joked as she and Tarok started to leave.

"Alright, let's meet up in the Ballroom when we're done." Mike suggested as he, Nepturus and Alaia left the room as well.

While they were on their way to the kitchens, Tarok and Shau were picking up any unspent thermal clips they could find amongst the dead mercs and destroyed mechs. Finding a higher quality shotgun amongst the bodies, Tarok inspected it thoroughly. "Now this is a weapon. Amazed a low level punk like that could get a hold of one of these."

Curious, Shau took a glance at it. "Huh, an Eviscerator. Sure you can handle a piece like that?" She shot him a cocky grin.

"Are you trying to make me angry, human?"

"I don't have to try, so no."

Tarok grumbled to himself as he collapsed his newly acquired gun and placed it on his back. As he bent down to check the bodies for more clips, Shau got a look at the long, jagged scar that divided his face, piquing her interest.

"So," she said, "how'd you get that scar? Lose a bar fight?"

"None of your business."

"What? Sore subject?"

"Very."

"Hm, I'll tell you how I got mine if you tell me how you got yours?"

Growling, Tarok ranted, "What is it with you humans and your questions? First Reynolds bombards me with questions this morning and now you're annoying me with your own."

"I'm just saying, that scar looks like it has an interesting story behind it and I'd rather not sit here in awkward silence while you put on the mysterious krogan badass routine."

Knowing from his past day and a half with Mike that human curiosity isn't suppressed easily, Tarok groaned and said, "Fine, if it'll earn me some peace and quiet." He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering events that took place almost a century ago with a somber mood. "At one time, I was the hero of my clan, the one that clan brothers would brag about when meeting with other clans. I was known all across Tuchanka as the one who nearly destroyed Clan Weyrloc when they attempted to take over our territory. I was a legend."

"So you got the scar from that?"

"...no. About a hundred years ago...my clan leader found out that a rival clan was encroaching dangerously close to the borders of our clan's female camp. On Tuchanka, females are one of the most coveted things a clan can possess; even more so than food or clean water. So, as you can imagine, he didn't want the other clan to have them. He told me to take a team out to the female camp to deter the other clan from trying anything. For the first few weeks, we only got a few glimpses at them, but they never came too close to the camp's borders. Then, one night, I was...distracted from the camp for a few minutes...that's when the enemy clan decided to strike. Before I knew what was going on, they'd started shelling the camp and storming in, killing off most of my men before I could get there to help. By the time I got there, most of the females had been taken and all of the sucklings had been killed along with my men."

"Damn...I hope you got back at the bastards for it."

"I never got the chance...when I got back to my clan, I told them what had happened...and they turned on me. They blamed me for what happened, said that I was negligent and stupid for leaving my men...and they were right. Before I could convince them to let me get our females back, the clan demanded I be punished, so instead of executing me, the clan leader took pity on me and exiled me instead, marking my face with his own dagger to let any krogan that saw me know that I was clanless. One stupid mistake...and everything I called home was taken from me, and this scar is going to be there to remind me for as long as I live...satisfied, human?"

Shau, though not easily saddened, did show a bit of guilt for making him relive that. "Sorry...didn't know it was that personal."

"Well, now you know."

"You know, you and I have a lot more in common than I thought."

"I doubt it."

"No, really. My scar didn't exactly come from a happy memory either."

"Few ever do."

"You want to hear the story or not?"

"...Will you keep nagging me if I say no?"

"No, I'll just tell you anyway."

"Ugggh, humans...alright, but let's finish this up while you're talking."

"Fair enough." Shau tossed the bag she'd brought from the med bay between them so they could gather up the thermal clips. "Well, you remember how I didn't really like your turian friend when we first met?"

"I wouldn't call us friends...more like forced acquaintances."

"Whatever, it was back during the First Contact War, about a week before the birds took Shanxi. I was stationed in the Horsehead Nebula with my husband, Trent. Burliest SOB I've ever known...and a good man. Anyway, we were stationed aboard the SSV Beijing on a scouting mission, trying to gather some intel on the turians. Well, just as we were about to leave the system, a turian cruiser ambushed us and forced us to make an emergency landing on this deserted hunk of rock called Therumlon. Piece of crap planet didn't even have oxygen and its sun barely warmed the place at all. Half the men aboard the ship died from asphyxia before we could even get our bearings. Trent and I gathered up what was left of the men and fortified before the turians started bombing the site...we never stood a chance. By the time the turians set down and got into a firefight with us, there were only a handful of us left. One of the birds threw a grenade right in the middle of our position, so Trent pushed me away and dove onto it right before it exploded. The force still sent me flying face-first into a rock...damn near tore my face off. The last thing I saw before blacking out was what was left of Trent lying all over the place... The next thing I knew I was waking up in a turian POW station with a bandage over half of my face."

Though many would expect Tarok to respond with a disinterested grumble, he kept silent. "Hm...it never gets easy, does it?"

"What?"

"Losing everything in the blink of an eye...it changes you."

"Yeah...hell, who ever knew I'd find a 'kindred spirit' in a krogan, huh?"

"The turians took everything from my people when they released the genophage, so I guess you could say I can sympathize."

"So then why are you sticking with that Nepturus guy? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful he patched up my leg, but he's still one of them."

"Maybe, but at least he doesn't lie to my face about it. I can respect him for that, at least. Besides, if I killed him, Reynolds and the girl wouldn't be too happy about it." Tarok chuckled.

"You must respect jacket boy a lot. He's the only one you call by name."

"...Well, he reminded me a bit of myself with that pep talk of his."

"And how about the girl? You seem pretty soft when she talks to you."

"Girlie may not look it at first glance, but she's got the heart of a krogan. She'd never seen a krogan before she met me and she stood up to me not knowing whether or not she'd live to tell about it. You almost done getting the clips off of these guys?"

"Yeah, that's it for this group, let's check upstairs."

"Alright." Tarok stood up and proceeded up the nearby staircase, Shau close behind him.

"Hey, Reptile."

Not in the mood to complain about her choice of nickname, Tarok just went, "Hm?"

"You're a pretty good listener, you know that?"

"Well, when everyone else in the galaxy doesn't know when to be quiet, you learn to listen."

"Amen to that."

Meanwhile...

Having found the kitchen completely emptied of supplies, Mike, Nep, and Alaia were now searching through the many rooms of the palace for any rations they could find. Though at first unsuccessful, as the mercs had already consumed most of it, they then found their way into the gift shop, which had luckily been ignored by Chamberlain's men.

"Ugh, finally!" Mike groaned. "I thought they'd eaten every scrap of food in this place."

Nepturus looked through the inventory of candy and nutrient bars lining one wall of the shop. "Just as I thought, all levo-amino. Alaia and I can't eat this stuff."

"They have to have some turian tourists here from time to time, maybe they keep the dextro stuff behind the counter?" Alaia thought.

"Good idea. Let's check." Mike leaped over the counter and checked the shelves behind the counter. Pushing through various datapads and bits of trash, Mike found something. "I think I found you guys some food."

"You sure we can eat it?" Nepturus asked.

"Well, if this is any indicator..." Mike brought up a rather large box filled with protein bars labeled 'Bird chow – Not for human consumption'.

"Bird chow...charming." Nepturus brushed off the racial slur and checked the nutritional facts on the bars just to be safe. "Okay, we're good. Let's get as much of this food into the bag as we can. We don't know when we'll get a chance to find more."

They started to throw as many of the bars as they could into their food bag, being careful to remember which were the levo bars and the dextro bars. Having emptied out the box of dextro bars, Alaia decided to check her omni-tool for signals again out of habit. Switching it on, she scanned the area for any kind of comm signal, fully expecting to get nothing. Then, her omni-tool started beeping slowly, causing Alaia's eyes to light up. "Hey...hey hey hey, I've got something!"

Her excited announcement caught the others' attention. "You found someone? Where?" Mike asked.

"Wait..that's weird. It looks like an emergency beacon, but it's coming from this room."

"That's impossible," Nepturus pointed out, "there's no one else here."

"Hang on..." Alaia followed her omni-tool's scanner to the source of the signal, leading her to a shelf stacked with hard copy posters of the exterior of the palace. "It's coming from behind these posters."

Mike looked closely at the stacked pieces of paper before noticing that one of the stacks was a little sloppier than the others, with some of the posters sticking out a odd angles. He grabbed the stack and pulled it off of the shelf, revealing a small device tucked behind it. "Hello, what have we here?" Mike grabbed it and held it out to the others.

Nepturus took it in his own hand and inspected it. "Hm, it looks like some sort of OSD, but with a built-in distress beacon. Why would someone leave this here?" He then opened his omni-tool, attempting to access the device, only to be met with an error message. "Damn, whatever this thing is, it's locked up tight."

"Here, let me try." Alaia took the device and began scanning it. Nepturus at first wanted to say she wouldn't be able to crack it, but, learning from her previous exploits, he knew she probably could. "Huh, it looks like a military-grade encryption. Possibly a triple encrypted access denial system."

"Yeah," Nepturus said, looking at the read out on Alaia's omni-tool, "and check out the backdoor firewalls it has set up, someone with some real talent programmed this thing."

"Plus it looks like there's a thirteen digit passcode guarded by a 32-bit lockout protocol."

Supremely confused, Mike said, "Ugh...let's pretend that one of us didn't major in computer science. What does that all mean?"

"Basically, it's locked down tight. Multiple levels of security." Nepturus explained.

"Any idea what's on it?"

"We won't know until we open it." Alaia said, still working on cracking the security.

"Should we be trying to get into it, though? It's not exactly ours."

"This thing was hidden behind a stack of posters and was broadcasting a signal that anyone close enough to it could have detected, whoever hid it was asking for it." Alaia joked.

"Well, let's get back to Tarok and Shau while you're doing that. Hopefully, they haven't killed each other yet."

Nepturus chuckled, "Heh, we probably would have heard the explosions if they had."

"True." Mike turned his omni-tool on and opened the comm channel they'd set up between each other. "Tarok, this is Mike. How's the gun hunt going?"

After a few seconds, Tarok's voice came in, "We found some good rifles and pistols, as well as a ton of clips. We should be set for a while...unless the turian's aim stays the same."

"Kindly tell Tarok to go screw himself, would you Mike?" Nepturus responded sarcastically.

A small chuckle escaped Alaia's throat as Mike smiled. "Copy that, Big Guy. He found plenty of food to keep us going for at least a couple of weeks. Where are you guys?"

"We're in the room where we tangled with Chamberlain...smartass rich-boy looks good as a stain on the pavement."

"Alright, we're heading for the ballroom now, see you-"

"Wait..."

"What? What is it?"

"..."

"Tarok?" Mike's call was met with the sounds of gunfire coming from outside. Alaia pocketed the OSD as Nepturus strapped the food bag around his chest, ready to get moving.

"We've got company!" Tarok yelled out over the comm, the sounds of assault rifle fire in the background. "We've got turian reapers firing on us from the north along with some things we haven't seen yet, and husks pouring in from the east.

"Damn. Fall back to the Ballroom, we'll meet up there and fight our way out."

"Ballroom's too exposed, Reynolds! We'll meet you near the big staircase!"

"Alright, stay safe."

"HA, tell that to these freaks! Tarok out!"

Mike shut off his omni-tool. "Alright, the Grand Staircase was near the front entrance, right?"

"Yeah, let's move." Nepturus answered, pulling out his assault rifle. Alaia and Mike pulled out their own weapons as they made their way out of the gift shop and into the west hall, heading towards the front hall. Just as they were about to reach their destination, one of the doors in the hall blew out, revealing a group of husks ahead of them.

"Crap! Open up!" Nepturus yelled as he opened fire on the husks along with the others, taking out a few of them before they saw another creature appear from the room. It was larger than the husks with a bulbous hunch on its back, a large mouth with an eerie blue glow emanating from the inside, multiple pairs of eyes, and what looked like a cannon attached to its right hand.

"What the hell is that thing?" Alaia called out. The creature then pointed its cannon at them, firing off several rounds at them as it moaned ferociously, forcing them to take cover in the rooms next to them.

"Oh come on! Now there are two kinds of those freaks that can shoot at us?" Mike yelled as he shot at the creature, taking off half of its head without slowing it down.

Nepturus took a deep breath, taking out his sniper rifle in the process, and jumped out from cover, firing a shot at the creature's head, removing the rest of it and killing it instantly. "Headshot!"

"Nice!" Mike congratulated Nepturus just before another round ricocheted off of the door frame next to him. "Son of a-!" Another creature had appeared from the same room and was approaching the corpse of its fallen comrade, kneeling down next to it. Mike looked on in disgust as it began chewing on the remains. "What is that thing doing?" Before the others could answer, Mike noticed that as it continued to consume its friend, armored plates began appearing over its body.

"Quick, take it out! It's fortifying itself!" Nepturus said before shooting the reaper, only for the bullet to be deflected somewhat by its new armor plating. "Not good." He said, switching to his assault rifle as Mike and Alaia saw more husks come in behind the armored creature.

Coming up with a plan to deal with it, Mike said, "Guys, let it come to us."

"What?" Nepturus asked, confused.

"I've got this, trust me."

Reluctantly, Nepturus stayed behind cover, as did Alaia. The creature slowly approached them, a low growl coming from its mutated mouth as it trained its weaponized arm on Mike's doorway. Just as it was about to enter the room, Mike spun out of the doorway, slamming his rifle butt into the creature's head, staggering it before he activated his omni-blade and stabbed it through the armor plating over its face and knocking it to the ground. The armor on its head gone, Mike trained his rifle on it and fired several rounds, finally finishing it off. Nepturus checked down the hall for more husks, seeing none.

"Clear." Nepturus breathed a sigh of relief for the moment, turning to Mike, who was checking to make sure the creature was dead. "You love to take risks, don't you?"

"It's served me well so far." Mike joked as he got a good look at what was left of the reaper. Noticing an unmistakable racial trait, he pointed it out to the others. "This thing...I think it used to be a batarian."

Nepturus inspected it himself and nodded. "It sure looks like it."

Alaia walked up next to it, shaking her head. "First humans, then turians, now batarians...they're mutating every species in the galaxy. What if my people are next?"

"You can't let this get to you. That's exactly why they do this, psychological warfare." Nepturus said.

"Yeah, I know...it just makes me wonder if we're just delaying the inevitable."

"Hey...," Mike put his hand on Alaia's shoulder, "we're going to get out of this. If you let those things get to you like this, then they win, and I know you're too stubborn to let these freaks win."

Alaia took a deep breath, calming herself. "You're right. Thanks."

"No problem, we're in this together, right?"

"All the way. Come on, Tarok and Shau may be in trouble."

"Considering those two, I'd say the reapers are the ones in trouble." Nepturus said. "Let's move."

Stepping over the husks, the group made their way towards the main hall while Mike called Tarok. "Tarok, you there?" A few moments of silence followed as they waited for a response. "Tarok, come in!"

Finally, Tarok's voice came in loud and clear. "Where are you idiots? We're pinned down on the top of the stairs!"

"We're on our way, and Tarok, if you see any of those batarian reapers, don't let them eat each other!"

"...what?"

"Just trust me! Mike out!"

"I think you confused him a bit." Nepturus joked.

"We're almost to them." Just as Mike finished his sentence, they turned a corner to see several turian and batarian reapers firing up at Tarok and Shau, who had already taken care of the husks, which were laid strewn across the stairs. "Let's divide their attention." Mike then fired at the reapers, taking one of turians out as the others became aware of their presence.

"About time you showed up!" Shau called out from the top of the stairs before blowing a batarian reaper's head off with her pistol.

Just as its body his the floor, another one came up to it and began to devour it, recycling its brethren's mass into armor plating. "Tarok!" Nepturus called out. "Take that thing out before it finishes!"

Tarok took aim with his shotgun and fired a shot directly at the creature's head, blowing a large hole straight through its body. "Taken care of!" At that point, it was down to three turian reapers, who had decided to rush the stairs in an attempt to catch Tarok and Shau off guard. However, Tarok saw this from a mile away and smiled as he came out from cover and charged at them, grabbing one on his way down, throwing it into the second one and finally slamming his fist into the last, sending it flying through the main doors. "Ha, not too bright, are they?" Nepturus saw one of the reapers he'd thrown down the stairs get up slowly and train its gun on Tarok. Thinking quickly, he pulled his sniper rifle out and fired a split second shot, taking its head off. Tarok snapped around with his gun drawn, only to see a headless reaper at his feet. Looking back to Nepturus, he said, "Sure you were aiming for the reaper?"

"Yeah, you're welcome...again." Nepturus put his gun away as everyone grouped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Alright, same plan as before; we exit through the south and then head east towards New Scotland Yard." Mike said, ejecting a spent clip from his gun.

"Sounds good to me, let's just get moving before-" Shau was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash coming from where Mike, Nepturus, and Alaia had just come from, as well as an echoing roar and thundering footsteps.

"Other way, move!" Nepturus yelled, the others following his suggestion and running down the opposite hall.

As they made their way down the hall, Alaia caught a quick glimpse down another hallway, where a group of reapers seemed to be to scrounging through a pile of tech that Chamberlain's men had brought in. "What are they looking for?" She thought out loud.

"Who knows? Let's keep moving!" Mike said before a loud, robotic sound thundered through the palace, coming from outside.

"The hell was that?" Tarok asked.

Suddenly, a large beam of red energy blasted through the window in front of them, a few mere feet away from them. "Holy crap!" Nepturus called out in shock.

Mike looked out of the large gap in the wall left by the beam and was dumbfounded by what he saw, as were the others. Outside of the palace, one of the enormous ships had set down in the east garden, towering over the building and casting a large shadow across the grounds. "Keelah..." Alaia said, at a loss for a clever remark.

Before the others could give their thoughts, the massive ship lifted one of its tentacle arms and pointed it towards them. "Ooooh shit! RUN!" Mike yelled before bolting down the hall along with the others, who barely made it past the spot where the ship's beam tore another hole in the palace, sending pieces of stone and glass flying in every direction. As they sprinted down the hole, blast after blast decimated the building, each one nearly hitting them and causing them to stagger. "MOVE MOVE MOVE!"

"OH CRAP!" Alaia screamed.

"Keep going! GO!" Tarok urged.

Just as they were about to turn a corner, the ship fired at the floor above them, causing the ceiling to cave in as they rounded into the next hall, nearly crushing them. The blast had knocked them all to the ground and flooded the immediate area with dust. Stopping for a second to catch his breath, Mike looked behind him to do a head count. "Hey...where's Shau?"

The others looked around before looking back to the pile of rubble behind them. "Oh no..." Alaia said, fearing the worst.

Mike opened his omni-tool and called Shau. "Shau! Shau, come in! Are you alright?"

It took a few seconds, but they miraculously got a response. "Shau here...*cough cough*...everyone alright over there?"

Smiling in relief, Mike said, "Yeah, we're fine. You?"

"There's no way I'm making it past this debris...just keep going and I'll catch up."

"What? No way, just hang on and we'll-"

"Those things are going to get all of us if you stick around the help me. I'll be fine, just keep going!"

At this point, Alaia jumped onto the comm channel. "Shau, we're not leaving you here!"

"I don't plan on dying today, kid...so don't worry about me and just keep going. You got me?"

"But...okay. We'll meet up with you later." Alaia said, unsure if what she just said was true.

"Damn right you will...and Reptile? Take care of your people while I'm gone. Now get moving before I dig through this wall and kick your asses!" With that, Shau left the comm channel.

The four survivors looked at one another for a moment before finally turning from the rubble and heading down the hall. Before long, they reached the employee access that they used to sneak inside the palace and went inside, hoping the reapers hadn't figured out it was there. They each got their guns out just in case as they turned on their omni-tools' flashlights, checking every corner. When they reached the ladder up to the grounds, Nepturus walked up to it. "I'll check if the coast is clear."

"Alright, if it is, signal down to us and we'll start heading up." Mike said as Nepturus made his way up the ladder. Ever so gently, he opened the access hatch to allow himself to see outside, checking all directions for reapers. When he was sure it was all clear, he did a quick thumbs up to the others. "Alright, Alaia, you go after Nep. Tarok and I will be right behind you."

Alaia took a quick glance back, still uncomfortable with leaving Shau alone. "Okay, I'm right behind you Nep."

Nep made his way out of the hatch and signaled for Alaia to follow him behind a hedge to the south. Mike and Tarok turned their heads when they heard pounding on the door behind them. "Quick, you next, Reynolds. I'll keep you covered."

"Alright." Mike quickly jumped on the ladder and climbed as fast as he could as Tarok kept watch on the entrance. Once he was out of the hatch, Mike looked back down the hatch. "Okay, I'm out. Come on!"

As Tarok put away his shotgun and grabbed the ladder, he heard a loud metallic shriek as the doors were torn out of the doorway. He went up the ladder with lightning speed as Mike took his hand and helped him out of the hatch. "Get moving!" He and Mike met up with Nepturus and Alaia behind the hedge and they all sprinted due south, away from the palace. Making sure to keep low, they went straight for the road not too far from the palace, managing to reach it without being spotted. They took cover behind the large fence that surrounded the palace and caught their breath.

Mike peeked around the fence and saw the ship still grounded near the palace. Then, before their eyes, the ship sent a long beam straight through the entire palace, causing half of it to collapse from the structural damage before the other followed suit, causing a large plume of smoke to billow into the sky. The group stared at the remains of the building they had been in only a minute earlier in complete silence.

Alaia scanned the area around the palace, looking for any sign of life. She then opened her omni-tool and tried to call Shau. "Shau, come in, it's Alaia!...Shau?"

There was no answer...they waited for a minute or two, but all she got was static. Alaia deactivated her omni-tool, her head dropping. Tarok cautiously put a hand on her shoulder as she tried as hard as she could to hold back her tears. Finally, she spun around and hugged him tightly, a sob escaping her throat. At first unsure what to do, he brought his arm around her back returned her hug, allowing her to vent her feelings.

"How many more people do we have to leave to die?" She cried, inwardly cursing herself for collapsing like she was.

Mike rubbed his eyes as Nepturus tried to think of something to say. After about a minute, Tarok gently brought Alaia an arm length away from him and looked her in the eye. "She made her choice. As long as you remember her sacrifice, you'll never have left her to die."

Still sniffling a bit, Alaia smiled at him and said, "...Thanks, Tarok. Now...don't think you guys can start treating me like a vulnerable little girl just because a few tears slipped through. I'm fine."

"It's alright, Alaia. Seeing stuff like this isn't easy...trust me." Nepturus said, giving her a quick hug, as did Mike.

"Besides," Mike added, "all things considered, you're doing pretty damn good."

"Thanks guys...okay, I'm back to 100%. Let's...let's get going."

"Alright," Nep said, "we just need to head down this road and then turn left. From there, we should be able to find New Scotland Yard with the road signs."

"Good, let's go. I've had enough of this place." Tarok said as he started walking down the southward road, the others in tow.

Buckingham Palace Ruins

Amongst the rubble left behind by the destruction of the palace, the servants of the Reapers focused on one object which was relatively untouched by the collapse: a damaged Atlas mech with a pool of red running from underneath its chassis. Several husks, as well as a much larger creature, surrounded the remains as the large ship looked on, its ominous, robotic eyes sensing an opportunity.

Bring it to me...this fragile form may still be of use to us.

The order was heeded without question as the large creature grabbed the mech's leg and began to drag it towards the ship, the blood leaving a trail behind it.