Sahrabarik System.
Omega Space Station.
Archangel's Base.
The sound of multiple mass accelerator rounds being fired filled the air of the first level of Archangel's base as Shepard, and her crew fought a fierce battle against the surviving freelancers. The first level was an old eezo storage warehouse converted into a living space/kitchen area. Near the back was a large staircase that was currently being used by the freelancers or at least those that managed to survive the Normandy crews sudden backstab back on the bridge as makeshift cover. Firing their respective weapons at the Normandy crew, forcing them to take their own cover to avoid being seriously injured or, worse, killed.
A random human freelancer raised out of cover and began firing wildly at the Normandy crew. "You backstabbing motherfuckers!" He roared with fury as Shepard and her companions took cover behind the reinforced walls of the base, which protected them from the mass accelerator rounds. "The Blue Sun, Eclipse and Blood Pack will fucking end you bastards once they've learned of your goddamn betrayal!" Another freelancer tried to help his furious comrade only to receive one of Commander Shepard's sniper rounds through the skull for his troubles.
Shepard immediately activated her tactical cloak after confirming that the random freelancer was terminated and moved to a new sniping position. The snipe and cloak tactic was standard battle doctrine for infiltrators. Their speciality was covert infiltration of emery strongholds, information retrieval, kidnapping or assassinations of high-rank enemy officers and, if needed, as long-range support for allies as they engage a foe in a full-frontal assault. The freelancers guarding the staircase were beyond pissed at the Commander as they couldn't pin her down, and they can't stay out of cover for long without running the risk of getting sniped in the head.
The Drones and Normandy crew weren't being idle either as they slowly moved towards the entrenched freelancers. Savage and his kin fired relentlessly at the freelancers causing them to stay behind their makeshift cover, whilst Miranda and Jacob proved support via using Biotic Pull to force some of the enemies to leave the safety of their cover. Zaeed blasted the poor bastards that got caught in the Cerberus operatives Biotics into bloody bits of meat thanks to the firepower of his heavily modified M-15 Vindicator assault rifle.
"Goddamn," Zaeed smirked while continuing to help reduce the member of freelancers. "It's like shooting a bunch of moronic Pyjaks that wandered into a Krogan clan's food storage." The mercenary had visited the Krogan homeworld on several occasions, all of which was to hunt down a bounty that thought hiding on one of the most dangerous worlds in the known galaxy was a great idea. It ever worked as Zaeed would never allow a hellhole like Tuchanka to keep him away from his target and the rewards that followed after either termination or capture.
"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself, Zaeed." A shimmer of light appeared from the mercenary's left; within seconds, Shepard emerged from the tactical cloak. "Although, we should really speed things along," the Commander fired her sniper rifle and nailed a freelancer right in-between the eyes. "I caught a glimpse of the infiltration team that Cathka told us about on the second level. It appears that they're trying to hack through the door leading to the room where Archangel is held up in." Zaeed grimaced at the news as they'd need to hurry and kill the infiltration team before the idiots working for Tarak got through the door and attacked the exhausted Vigilante.
"Then we should take care of these fools first." Zaeed pointed at the five remaining freelancers. "I was thinking about throwing some grenades to force them away from the staircase," a freelancer screamed in pain after getting hit in the shoulder by one of the Drones. "After that happens, we let the Drones rush them and tear the bastards a couple of new assholes." The door on the second level's security systems wouldn't keep the infiltration team out for long, so they needed to eliminate these freelancers quickly before moving up to the second level.
Shepard nodded before shifting her gaze towards the Cerberus operatives currently taking cover behind a food preparation station within the kitchen. "Miranda, Jacob!" The duo paused their attempts to end the freelancers to gaze curiously at their commanding officer. "I think it's time we send these bastards home with a bang!" Their eyes flashed with understanding at Shepard's words and turned back to the freelancers while removing a single grenade from their belts. The Cerberus duo threw the grenades at the staircase, which the freelancers overlooked as they were far too busy trying to stop the Drones from murdering them.
"Grenades out!" Jacob yelled out a warning to the Drones, who backed away from the staircase just in time to avoid the explosion caused by the grenades. Once the smoke from the blast lifted, the four bloody corpses of the freelancers could be seen scattered on the staircase. The sole survivor who had been lucky enough to be far up the stairs to avoid getting hit by most of the grenades destructive power was staring in disbelief at the deaths of his comrades. However, his shock wouldn't last long as Savage and his brethren rushed the staircase and proceeded to help the poor survivor join his friends in the afterlife.
Shepard and her human companions raced up the stairs ignoring the screams of the freelancer as he was literally ripped into five separate pieces thanks to the Drones monstrous strength. Upon reaching the second level, Shepard was greeted with the sight of the infiltration team trying to hack into the room at the end of the walkway. There were only three infiltrators, all of which were wearing Blue Suns armour, indicating which mercenary group they belonged to. The Commander and her team didn't waste any time and fired upon the infiltration team, turning them into bloody bits within a matter of seconds as they're not equipped to handle multiple opponents.
After the infiltration team was adequately dealt with, the Drones, after tearing up that random freelancer, raced past Shepard and took defensive positions at the door leading to the room where Archangel was located. Savage, standing in front of the door with his weapon raised, activated his Omni-tool and hacked into the security systems. Within ten seconds, the security was successfully hacked, and the door opened. The Drones, acting as a vanguard for their Queen, entered the room and gave it a quick security sweep for anything that might try to harm their Queen.
When the Drones confirmed that the only person within the room, which appeared to have been used as sleeping quarters, was Archangel, they gave the all-clear signal to Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew. The Commander calmly walked into the room with her sniper rifle held at the ready just encase the vigilante suddenly turned hostile or if one of the mercenaries miraculously survived the battle downstairs and somehow managed to sneak upstairs to the second level without anyone noticing. Shepard saw the infamous Archangel sitting near the window facing the bridge with a sniper rifle pointed towards the mercenaries base.
"Archangel?" Shepard politely asked the vigilante as it was always best to get a confirmation of someone's identity. Archangel glanced at the Commander and the rest of the Spectre's companions before turning back to the bridge whilst raising a single finger in the universal sign of please wait just a minute. A freelancer that somehow managed to avoid the bloodbath that was Shepard's rampage took a chance to see what was going on. A mistake he wouldn't have time to regret as Archangel fired his sniper rifle, sending the idiot off to join the rest of the freelancers in whatever hell they rightfully deserved.
Satisfied all of the freelancers were taken care of, Archangel moved away from the glassless window and sat on the closest couch. Once comfortable, the vigilante removed his helmet, revealing a familiar face that Shepard hadn't expected to see in a place like Omega. "Shepard," Garrus Vakarian, a former detective of C-sec, member of the original Normandy and one of Shepard's closest friends, greeted with a tired smile. "I thought you were dead." It was honestly shocking to Garrus to see his old friend, whom he believed to have died after the original Normandy was destroyed by the Collectors.
The galactic heroine smiled and felt like Christmas had just come early. "Garrus!" Shepard walked over to the Turian and gave him a great big hug, which he gladly returned. "What are you doing here?" She questioned Garrus after releasing him from the hug. Omega was the place where the scum of the galaxy went to either set up shop or hide from even worst guys that they pissed off, so it was rather strange that a person that believed so heavily in justice and law like Garrus would willingly come live on the space station.
Garrus relaxed on the couch. "Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice." He suddenly grunted in pain as wounds that he received from the constant fighting with the mercenaries decided to act up, which the Commander quickly noticed.
"You okay?" She asked Garrus with concern heavily dripping from her tone as the Locust Queen didn't want to lose her friend, especially not when they were just reunited after so many years.
Garrus waved away Shepard's concerns for his health. "I've been better," he confesses whilst placing some Medi-gel into his wounds. "But it sure is good to see a friendly face." The Turian detective turned vigilante grunted as the Medi-gel sealed and repaired his injuries. "Killing mercs is hard work. Especially on my own." Garrus remarked as it was indeed far hard to kill mercenary groups and Batarian slavers without the rest of the Normandy crew to assist as backup. The Turian would've loved to have Wrex here when everything went to shit, even if the old Krogan would've never stopped remarking on how he needed saving from a bunch of worthless street mercs.
"Welp, you wouldn't be taking on those assholes outside alone anymore," Shepard assured her friend whilst the Drones took defensive positions near the windows pointing at the bridge. "And I'm honestly impressed that you managed to piss off every major merc group on Omega." Garrus eyed the Locust Drones with interest as he's never met their species before today. It is evident by their actions and mannerisms that they were a military-based species much like his own; Garrus make a note to ask Shepard how she met and recruited these guys as it must be quite the story.
The former detective's gaze shifted back to Shepard. "It wasn't easy. I really had to work at it." He admitted with a laugh as it had taken months to get the mercs this pissed at him. "I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me," it was a miracle that they were working together to kill him. Garrus was honestly missing the days when the mercs would try murdering each other whilst he sneaked around in the shadows. "They must really hate me." Given that over 60% of the merc groups foot soldiers were here screaming for his blood, that was kind of an understatement at this point.
"Yeah, Tarak, Jaroth and Garm seem pretty insistent that you die here." The Commander informed Garrus, who simply grunted as he's enraged the three merc leaders for months now, so hearing how much they wanted him dead didn't surprise the Turian vigilante. "Anyway, since when did you start calling yourself Archangel?" Shepard was curious why Garrus, of all people, would choose a name like Archangel as the Turian wasn't the type to use such a mythical title and would instead just bluntly tell the bad guys he was there to kick their collective assess.
Garrus huffed in amusement at the mention of his vigilante name. "It's just a name the locals gave me. For all my good deeds." He paused for a moment. "I don't mind it, but please, it's just "Garrus" to you." The idea of Shepard calling him any except his name sounded far too strange to the Turian vigilante.
"Sure, Garrus," Shepard agreed while rolling her neck side to side to help with the phantom pain. "By the way, you really nailed me a good number of times out on the bridge." During the massacre of the freelancers, Garrus had shot at the Normandy crew, which was the main reason they entered the room with their weapons held at the ready. Savage, who was standing by her side, as usual, growled as he didn't like how close his Queen's shields were close to collapsing during that battle, and it was only because of her direct orders to not harm Archangel that stopped the Drone from firing at Garrus the moment they came into the room.
Garrus chuckled good-heartedly at Shepard's comment. "Concussive rounds only. No harm done." Honestly, Shepard and her crew were in more danger fighting the freelancers than when he fired those harmless rounds at them. "Besides, I didn't want the mercs to suspect that we've teamed up." If anything, that show they've put on would convince the merc leaders that Shepard's group, the freelancers and the infiltration team had killed each other trying to get at him first. Thus leave themselves venerable to a rather nasty surprise when they make another attempt to assault the base.
"Uh-huh." Shepard gave Garrus a deadpan expression. "And I'm sure those concussive rounds weren't you getting payback for all those times I drove the Mako." The original Normandy crew had always said that her driving skills were terrible. Heck, even Wrex once remarked that Shepard drove like a typical Krogan, which Shepard took as a compliment. The Normandy crew, minus Wrex, had vowed that they'd someday get even with Shepard for all the insane things she'd done whilst behind the wheel of the Mako.
"Of course not, Shepard," Garrus smirked with a false innocent expression. "I just thought you were taking your sweet time getting here and needed some proper motivation, that's all." It was utter bullshit, and they both knew it, yet the Commander chose not to push the matter further as there were more important things to discuss, like why he was on Omega in the first place, and when questioned on the subject, Garrus gave an interesting answer.
"I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. Figured I could do more good on my own." Garrus's voice held disdain when he mentioned Council politics, not that anyone blamed him as the Citadel Council can be rather annoying when it came to politics. "At least it's not hard to find criminals here. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot." Nearly everyone on Omega was a criminal in some sense of the word, making criminal hunting relatively easy for Garrus. The best part was that there wasn't any C-sec red tape to hold him back from doing what must be done to secure an innocent safety.
"Hum, true enough." Shepard saw first-hand how infested with corruption Omega was and knew that it would take an army to remove the station's criminals, slavers, and other low lives. "Although I think we should now focus on getting the hell out of here," the Commander glanced at the bridge where the mercenaries were no doubt waiting to fire if any of them tried to leave the base. "Because I doubt the mercs are going to let us just walk out the front door without a fight." With the freelancers now dead, Jaroth would be the next person to try assaulting the base.
Garrus frowned as he adjusted to a more comfortable position. "No, it won't be easy. That bridge has saved my life," he picked up his sniper rifle. "Funnelling all those witless idiots into scope." He'd have died hours ago without that bridge acting as a kill zone and the stupidity of the mercenaries swarming tactics. "But it works both ways," Garrus raised from the couch and pointed towards the bridge. "They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way." And with the other base exits sealed, the bridge was frustratingly their only way to escape the mercenary forces.
Savage growled with dark glee. "So our strategy is to fortify our position then quietly wait for the fools to attack, then slaughter them all to weaken their own defences and decrease the number of foot soldiers." It was a plan that Savage could get behind, especially when it helped decrease the risk of potential harm happening to Her Majesty. The Queen could wait up here in a relatively safe area whilst he and his brethren did what they're bred for and exterminate the enemies of the Locust Horde.
"Exactly." Garrus nodded as taking out the mercs in drawn-out battle and then making a run for it when they're significantly weakened was the best strategy they had at the moment. "This place has held them off so far. And with all of us working together," Garrus, Shepard, Savage, the Normandy crew joined the Drones at the window. "We can hold this location, wait for a crack in their defences, and take our chances." The Turian vigilante grinned at his friend. "It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan." Given how much of a shit storm the past 24 hours have been, Garrus would settle for any plan at this point, no matter how crazy it might sound.
Shepard smirked while reloading all of her weapons. "I didn't like sneaking around these idiots anyway." The rest of her team followed the Commander's example and made sure their weapons had a full clip as this battle was going to get bloody, real quick. "Time to spill ourselves a little merc blood." The Cerberus operatives frowned in concern as they could practically feel the bloodlust coming off Shepard in waves. Zaeed, on the other hand, simply nodded as he would take great pleasure in removing the morons that comprised the merc army on the other side of the bridge from existence.
"Glad to see you haven't changed." Garrus lazily commented whilst raising his sniper rifle to better look at the bridge via the tactical scope. "Now, let's see what they're up to." The Turian vigilante gave the bridge a thorough sweep for enemy movement. "Hmm, looks like they know their infiltration team failed." Garrus frowned at the sight that met his eyes. "Take a look. Scouts. Eclipse, I think." Shepard raised her own rifle and saw multiple Loki mechs jumping over the makeshift barricade on the mercs side of the bridge.
The galactic heroine lowered her sniper rifle. "That looks like a lot more than scouts." It was more like a mechanical assault force; Jaroth must've wanted to leave nothing to chance after the freelancers failed. Thus, he sent every Loki mech in storage out to the bridge to ensure that Garrus was overwhelmed via superior members. Sadly for the Eclipse leader, Shepard fully intended to fuck up his plan and leave the station with Garrus, and no amount of merc forces or killer robots were going to stop her.
Garrus hummed in agreement as he analysed the Loki mechs approaching. "Indeed, we better get ready." Several Drones began firing at the Lokis with hate shining within their eyes as they remembered how these machines kept them captive back on the Cerberus ran facility. "I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point." His skill set was meanly that of a sniper, so it made sense for him to stay at a high vantage point. "You can go downstairs and do what you do best." Which was visiting untold amounts of chaos and destruction upon their enemies.
Shepard agreed with the plan and started heading for the stairs leading back to the base's first level. Savage, two other Drones and her crew, followed behind the Commander. However, before they could even leave the room, Garrus called out to Shepard to wait for a moment. "Shepard, if we survive this, then I'll tell you the story about how I end up in this mess," Garrus's eyes glanced at Savage for a moment. "Although in exchange, you'll have to tell me where you found these guys." It was a fair deal as Garrus really wanted to know where the Locust Drones came from.
Shepard gave a short nod. "It's a long story Garrus," the sound of gunfire roared through the air as the Lokis tried to reach the base. "Be sure to survive this battle to hear me tell it." Without another word, Shepard raced out of the room while activating her tactical cloak. Savage and the others followed her and ran down the staircase, taking defensive positions near the first level's entrance. Garrus joined the Drones that stayed behind on the second level and proceeded to snipe the heads of Loki mechs.
The Loki mechs marched slowly towards Garrus's base, firing at anything that registered as hostile to their sensors. The robotic soldiers were built with heavier armour than the ones Shepard's crew had previously encountered. A few even possessed kinetic shield generators, which made disabling them more difficult than usual. The Drones on the second level roared their fury at the robotic minions and unleashed a hail of mass accelerator rounds at them. A couple of the mechs went down, yet more were sent over the barricade by their Eclipse masters.
Shepard had switched to using a pistol at the ground level entrance and carefully aimed for the Loki mechs heads as that seemed to be the least armoured part of their bodies. Savage and his two kin would take out mechs clustered together and occasionally throw a grenade to knock the rest of the robots off-balance via the explosions' caused. Miranda and Jacob continued to provide Biotic support, either pulling Lokis to their position or throwing the metallic soldiers off the bridge, which echoed their metallic screams.
Zaeed provided covering fire, taking out those that the rest of his teammates either missed or just hadn't noticed in the heat of battle. The heavily scarred mercenary was grinning like a madman as the sounds of war and mechanical enemies dying by the handful roared throughout the area. It was only twenty minutes before the last Loki was turned into scrap metal. However, none of them got to feel any joy from the Loki mechs destruction as Eclipse Troopers jumped over the barricade and proceeded to march for the base muck like the mechs had been trying to do a few minutes ago.
Garrus's voice could be heard echoing from their communication systems. "Heads up! They're deploying troopers and snipers!" The Turian could see the snipers setting up at the barricade. Garrus fired upon the snipers hitting one in the skull whilst causing the others to take cover. The standard foot soldiers of the Eclipse weren't alone, as four of their infamous Asari vanguard was accompanying the lesser members on the assault. The Eclipse vanguard were elite frontline fighters that possessed far stronger shields than the common foot soldier and thus would be a pain to take down.
Ravage took shots at the vanguard units from the second level, fully intending to take them out first. "It doesn't matter how many fools they send," the Eclipse Asari tried to use their Biotics on the second level Drones yet were forced to abandon that idea when grenades came flying towards them. "They'll die just like the rest that dare challenges the Horde!" His brethren roared their approval and combined their firepower upon the Asari, killing two of the Eclipse vanguard while two took cover behind some containers.
Unfortunately, the Drones would've to return their focus on the barricade as more Eclipse came marching over it. The surviving Eclipse vanguard saw the opportunity and ran for the base entrance Garrus noticed them yet couldn't do anything. The Eclipse reinforcements were carrying rocket launchers, thus making them a top priority to eliminate before they get the chance to fire those rockets at their position. However, upon reaching the entrance, the two surviving Eclipse Vanguard were met by Savage, who decided to deal with the Eclipse Asari himself.
"Move aside, beast!" One of the remaining Asari vanguard ordered with a snarl on her lips. "We've got a score to settle with Archangel, and you're not going to stop us!" The other Asari nodded while having her weapon held at the ready encase the Drone decided to charge them. Archangel had murdered many of their Eclipse sisters, and the duo wanted vengeance against the vigilante, especially when he bombed their barracks last month, taking out several comrades, one of which being the commander of the Asari vanguard on Omega.
Savage gazed darkly at the Asari duo. "The Queen desires that the one known as Archangel survives this battle at any cost." The sounds of battle thundered throughout the base as both sides tried to murder each other. "And since you two seem to be hellbent on defying Her Majesty's will," the Drone leader pulled a set of combat knives from his belt and moved into a proper dual knife-wielding stance. "I shall become your executioner this day." Savage dashed towards them without giving the Asari time to respond or think of a proper strategy.
The Asari Eclipse wildly fired upon Savage, who allowed his kinetic shield to tank the mass accelerator rounds as he rapidly closed the distance between them. One tried to summon her Biotics in an attempt to throw the Drone backwards, yet Savage reacted faster than the Asari and threw a combat knife, which soared through the air and pierced the mercenary's right shoulder. The other Asari let out several curses upon witnessing her comrade's injury as kinetic shields weren't designed to stop objects that moved at such low speeds.
"You'll pay for that!" The injured Asari roared furiously whilst removing the knife from her shoulder. However, she'd never get the chance to make good on her threat as Shepard, who had noticed their fight after taking a chance to look away from the bridge to check on how her team was doing, put a mass accelerator round through her skull. The remaining Asari cried in outrage at her comrade's sudden death yet couldn't stay focused on it for long as Savage was now upon her position.
The Drone leader made a slashing motion towards the Asari's throat; the Eclipse vanguard saw what Savage was attempting and bent her spine backwards to avoid the slash. However, it was a feint as Savage unleashed a devastating palm strike to the Asari's stomach. A gasp of pain escaped the Eclipse vanguards mouth, yet she wouldn't die without at least fighting back, and so with great concentration, the Asari gathered her Biotics energy, grabbed the knife on the ground and threw it at Savage with all of her strength.
A roar of pain filled the entrance to the base as Savage was stabbed in the side by his own knife. The Asari vanguard didn't get the chance to boast or make a run for the barricade as Savage fought through the pain and grabbed the Asari by the neck, easily lifting her up into the air via his monstrous strength. The Asari kicked and punched the wounded Savage, who ignored her attempts to escape his grasp. The Drone grabbed the hilt of the knife embedded into his side and proceeded to pull it out, causing blood to gush out of the open wound.
"You're the first person to ever seriously injure me," Savage growled at the Asari held helplessly within his grasp. "And for that, you've earned my respect." The Asari's eyes widen in surprise at the Drone's admittance before gasping in pain when Savage stabbed his foe in the heart with the knife. Blood dripped out of the Asari's mouth as the life drained from her eyes. Savage waited for a moment to ensure that the Eclipse merc was genuinely dead. Once he saw how lifeless her eyes became, he gently threw the Asari aside, pulled out his assault rifle from his back and returned to firing upon the remaining Eclipse mercs on the bridge.
Meanwhile, Jaroth could be seen approaching the bridge looking none too pleased with the sight that greeted his amphibian eyes. A female human Eclipse member raced past Jaroth only to be sniped in the skull by Garrus; the Salarian sneered in displeasure towards the corpse of his subordinate before glaring at the second level, where he saw Archangel glaring back at him. The sight of his brother's killer made a cold rage burn within Jaroth's heart as more Eclipse troopers came over the barricade to support their leader.
Jaroth activated his Omni-tool. "If you want something done properly." The Eclipse leader typed in a few commands causing something mechanical hidden behind the barricade to hum to life. "All right. Let's see how you handle this, Archangel!" An anti-gravity lift hovered over the barricade and dropped the YMIR mech, which upon Jaroth's command, activated and unfolded into its battle mode. The Eclipse reinforcements cheered as they believed that the YMIR would end the traitors that aided Archangel, yet their cheers turned to screams of terror as the YMIR fired upon them.
"What!?" Jaroth stared at the YMIR with a mixture of rage and disbelief. "Those traitors sabotaged the YMIR!" The red-skinned Salarian growled as he realised why the YMIR had gone crazy and attacked his forces. The rest of the Eclipse must've come to the same conclusion as they immediately fired at the mech as it was now their enemy thanks to Shepard's earlier sabotage of the YMIR's targeting systems. The Drone's on the second level saw the situation and joined the YMIR in making the Eclipse mercs lives a living hell.
"Dammit!" Jaroth growled in annoyance whilst hiding behind the barricade along with his most elite troops. "We need to disable the YMIR; otherwise, Archangel and his newest friends can simply wait in their base and snipe us from a distance!" Their ace-in-the-hole needed to be stopped since his troops couldn't fight both it and Archangel at the same time.
"Why don't you just deactivate the YMIR?!" An Asari vanguard questioned her leader only to flinch at the murderous glare that he sent her way.
"Because the traitors disabled the YMIR's deactivation protocols, that's why!" It was actually rather clever of the traitors to disable their ability to stop the heavy mech. An Eclipse corpse flew over the barricade as the heavy mech started using its rocket launchers to help thin out the mercenaries ranks. Jaroth glanced dispassionately at the Salarian corpse for a moment before returning his focus to the situation at hand. "Use all the grenades we have to destroy the heavy mech. Once it's out of the way, we can finally get at Archangel."
A random subordinate didn't like this plan and wasn't afraid to voice his option. "Wouldn't that leave ourselves at a tactical disadvantage since our enemies probably still have some grenades left?" The insubordinate Eclipse merc was immediately shot in the head by Jaroth. Who glared disdainfully at the rapidly cooling corpse.
Jaroth holstered his pistol, not even caring that he had just shot a member of his group. "I trust there will be no further questions against my plan?" The Salarian stared darkly at his remaining subordinates, daring them to say anything. When they just stood there obediently, he smiled happily and nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent, then let's proceed with our mission." The entire group raised and threw their grenades at the YMIR, which didn't care about the explosive devices and fired its weapons at its newest targets, killing quite a few of them before the grenades went off.
Jaroth ran for Archangel's base; the Salarian's amphibian eyes burned with the fires of madness and vengeance. The other Eclipse tried to keep up with their leader yet were being taken out one by one thanks to the firepower of the Drones on the second level and the excellent sniping skills of the Turian vigilante. Yet, no matter how many Eclipse died, Jaroth kept running towards his target, ignoring everything else, even the Normandy crew, as they fired upon his position. Miraculously Jaroth managed to reach Archangel's location, albeit with his shields down and most of his armour destroyed.
Jaroth grinned madly at Garrus even though the Drones were now pointing their weapons at him. "There you are, Archangel," the Salarian slowly walked towards his target, who stared back at Jaroth with a blank expression. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time." Jaroth knew that this was the end of the line. All other Eclipse members were either dead or dying at this point, yet none of that mattered to him anymore Jaroth would sacrifice everything so long as he could kill Archangel and avenge his brother.
"Hello, Jaroth," Garrus causally greeted the Eclipse leader. "I'm honestly impressed that you made it past Shepard." It was quite the accomplishment as not many ever got past the Savour of the Citadel, and even fewer lived to tell the tale. Jaroth sneered at the Turian and took a step forward, only to pause when the Drones formed a wall of heavy muscle and weaponry around Garrus to protect him from the insane Salarian.
Jaroth raged at those that kept him from his goal. "Are you too afraid to step away from your bodyguards and personally fight me, Archangel?!" The red-skinned Salarian raised his assault rifle at the Drones. "I demand that you fight me here and now, Archangel!" Garrus stared dispassionately at Jaroth and simply uttered one word.
"No," Jaroth screamed madly at the refusal yet wouldn't be able to do anything else as Shepard chose that moment to deactivate her tactical cloak revealing that she'd been standing by Jaroth's side the entire time. The Commander raised her pistol, and since his shields were still recharging, Jaroth was defenceless as the mass accelerator round pierced his head and ended the life of Omega's infamous Eclipse leader.
Garrus stared at Jaroth's bloody corpse for a moment before sighing tiredly. "That was a hard-fought victory." A couple of the Drones that stayed with him on the second level were injured during the battle though thankfully, there was enough Medi-gel to heal their wounds. "At least we took down Jaroth." Hints of disdain could be heard in Garrus voice when he said the dead Salarian's name. "I've been hunting the little bastard for months." Savage and the Normandy crew entered from the room's entrance since they'd already taken care of the remaining Eclipse mercs.
Shepard raised an eyebrow at the information. "Why were you after him?" Sure, Jaroth was an utter scumbag, yet that wasn't enough motivation for someone like Garrus to relentlessly hunt the Salarian for months on end.
"He's been shipping tainted eezo all over Citadel space," Garrus explained as tainted eezo can be highly toxic to biological lifeforms and, if used in a ships engine core, has a chance of becoming explosive which would obviously destroy the vessel. "Half the goods I seized back at C-sec came from his team here on Omega." Garrus had always felt frustrated that he couldn't stop the tainted eezo at the source during his time at C-sec. Although with Jaroth dead, none of his friends back on the Citadel would've to deal with Jaroth's tainted eezo anymore.
"I took out a big shipment a while back and killed his top lieutenant in the process." The lieutenant had been a slippery bastard, yet in the end, Garrus managed to kill the guy before Jaroth came with reinforcements. "Not surprised he decided to work with the other mercs after that." Jaroth had been an arrogant son of a bitch. He wouldn't have taken Garrus's assaults on his operations without some form of retaliation, especially after his brother was killed during the eezo shipment disaster.
"Killing his brother was the catalyst that caused Jarith to join the rest of the merc groups." Shepard joined Garrus's side whilst two Drones moved Jaroth's corpse outside of the room. "And we've still got Blood Pack, and Blue Suns left." Both merc groups were still at full strength and well-rested and ready for a fight. "Think we can make a break for it?" Usually, Shepard wouldn't ask that question as it was considered foolish to attack with such limited forces. Yet, with how skilled they were compared to the mercs and the general strength of the Drones, an escape attempt was possible in the Commander's eyes.
Garrus hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe. Let's see what they're up to." The vigilante spied on the mercenaries through his sniper scope. "They've heavily reinforced the other side." A concerned frown was etched upon Garrus's face. "But they're not coming over the bridge yer. What are they waiting for?" The answer to Garrus's question came a moment later when an explosion rocked the base. A siren screeched throughout the base as Garrus stared grimly at the other side of the bridge, already figuring out what the mercs had been waiting for.
Miranda gazed around in confusion. "What the hell was that?" The female Cerberus operative demanded to know. Garrus meanwhile activated his Omni-tool, performing a scan of the base and cursing when the results confirmed what the Turian feared the mercenaries had done.
"Damn it. They've breached the lower level." Garrus deactivated his Omni-tool and retrieved his sniper rifle. "Well, they had to use their brains eventually." It was just bad timing that they started acting smart at this moment. "You'd better get down there, Shepard. I'll keep the bridge clear." Garrus's eyes burned with determination as not one merc would get past him while Shepard dealt with the ones down in the lower level.
"I'm not leaving you to fight alone, Garrus." Shepard wouldn't allow her friend to fight an enemy alone, especially when she had the power to prevent it from happening. "Five Drones, plus Miranda and Jacob, will stay and help defend the bridge while the rest of us take care of the lower level." The surrounding Drones frowned at the idea of splitting up and leaving their ruler with less protection and meat shields, yet if the Queen ordered it, then they'll obey.
"You sure? Who knows what you'll find down there." The basement could flood with enemies or other nasty tricks the mercenaries might've kept hidden during their direct assaults.
"I'm sure Garrus," Shepard smiled reassuringly at her friend. "Besides, you'll need the help as I doubt Tarak would be satisfied with just sending whatever is in the basement to kill you." The Blue Suns leader will likely send more troopers across the bridge, so they need as much firepower as possible to keep them away from the base.
"Thanks, Shepard." He sincerely thanked his old comrade. "You'd better get going." Enough time has been wasted talking, and the mercs were getting ever closer to beginning their next assault.
Shepard unholstered her sniper rifle. "Alright, how do we get to the basement?" She hadn't seen anything that might to an underground level, so she'll need Garrus to point the way.
"Go down a level; the basement door is on the west side of the main room, behind the stairs." Garrus pointed towards the door hidden behind the staircase. "I'll radio directions if you need help," not that he thought Shepard needed help, but in this kind of situation, it was better to be safe than sorry. "But you've got to get down there quick." It was vital that whatever was down in the basement was taken care of quickly before the mercs had the chance to swarm the base.
Shepard nodded in understanding before rushing out of the room with Savage, the five other Drones and Zaeed following their leader to the basement. The Cerberus operatives, Garrus and the remaining Drones set up positions and waited for the mercenaries to make their next move. The atmosphere became tense as they guarded the bridge whilst Shepard raced to the door behind the staircase, leading to the basement where the next major merc assault would occur.
It was time for the Blood Pack to make their move on Archangel.