Had a little writer's block with this one...took a while...
But here it is now, starring our favorite turian...
"I see what you are doing here Shepard, and this will not do! I will not allow this to happen!" Miranda yelled.
Zaeed, Shepard and Jacob stood on the soil of Omega, but Miranda refused to step out of the ship's airlock.
"Sorry?" Shepard asked, unsure what the reason for her nagging this time was.
"This is a direct violation of Cerberus protocol! I will not allow this to happen!"
"You keep saying that. What is?"
Miranda went into the Codex-mode, and began talking in a monotone "Cerberus Protocol Section AB/Z24, Ground Teams. The ground team consists of three members, and all rights to alter the composition of the ground team are reserved for the Illusive Man."
"Oh," Shepard said, surprised "Well, I didn't know that it wasn't allowed!"
Miranda smiled "I'm glad you could see rea-"
"Guess there's now two reasons to do this," Shepard said dryly, then nodded towards Miranda "Fellas…"
Zaeed and Jacob stepped forward and began approaching Miranda, who looked terrified. "Jacob! You work for Cerberus too! Don't do this!"
"Sorry girl, but I don't even know how to spell that protoncop word," Jacob shrugged, and continued moving forward.
"It's protocol, moron!" Miranda snapped and turned towards Zaeed "We pay you to do what we say, Massani. So follow your contract!"
Zaeed shrugged "My bad miss, but the contract says I must help Shepard, and that I do."
They grabbed Miranda by her arms, and lifted her up. "Let me down you thugs!" she screamed,her legs kicking around wildly. Jacob and Zaeed carried her out of the ship and let go off her.
"This is wrong...wrong, wrong, wrong…" she muttered, shaking and swaying.
Zaeed glanced at Shepard, raising an eyebrow "The bird's a bit off her rocket?"
"You'll get used to her. I hope."
The foursome entered now the so called tavern, which was actually a nightclub called Afterlife. A nightclub…more like a strip club. Whichever it was, the techno music of the place hurt Shepard's ears, his head and his soul. The spotlights didn't help much either. Fortunately for him, he noticed the bar counter.
Shepard walked to the batarian bartender and tapped the counter twice. The batarian poured him a drink, and slid the glass across the counter.
"You're going to be drunk when talking to that Aria?" Miranda nagged, looking angry again.
"Dead-drunk," Shepard retorted and emptied the glass.
The drink hit him like a hammer to the head. Literally. He truly felt like he was struck on the head. Shepard put his hand on his forehead and his vision began to blur. He staggered once, twice, but then his vision began to clear again. Shepard turned back to the bartender.
The batarian stared at him, his mouth hanging wide open "W-why you're not dead?"
Shepard leaned on the counter, looking the batarian in the eye "Practice. Pour another one."
"W-what?"
Shepard sighed "I said practice. You wanna see what else I've practiced?" The batarian shook his head. "Good. Pour another one," Shepard said strictly.
The batarian hesitatingly poured another one, his hands shaking. He slid the drink across the counter again, but Shepard pushed it back, shaking his head "Your turn."
The batarian glanced around nervously, his jaw clenching "You can't be serious!"
"Dead serious," Shepard said and put his pistol on the counter "Take a bullet from this gun, or that drink. Your choice."
Batarian glanced around and instead of either, he decided to pull out his pistol, pointing it at Shepard. A gunshot sounded and the batarian fell down. The shot came from a gun of a turian dressed up in red armor. His nametag said 'Ogrinn'.
"Hehehee…asschabs…" Ogrinn muttered, then fell over.
Somehow the authorities of Afterlife didn't care that the turian had shot their bartender. Guess they were lazy.
Shepard and co. began to walk towards Aria's private room. A guard stopped them "Halt! You need to be scanned before you see Aria."
"Scanned? Our guns are right here," Shepard said and turned around, pointing at the guns on his back.
"It's not for that, but to confirm your identity."
"Whatta hell…"Shepard shrugged, and allowed the guard to scan him.
The quartet entered the room, and saw an asari sitting on a sofa. She gestured them to come closer.
"So you're Shepard," she said.
"More or less," Shepard answered, crossing his arms.
"According to our scans, more."
"Maybe. You're in charge of Omega?"
Aria chuckled and rose up; spreading her arms dramatically "I am Omega!"
"Great. Another megalomaniac…" Shepard muttered.
Aria frowned "What did you say?"
Shepard shrugged "Nothing."
Aria sat back down "Good. Because there's only one rule on Omega. Don't fuck Aria," she smirked.
She nodded towards the sofa, and Shepard sat down "You must have some power if you can make up such rules."
Her eyes narrowed "It's because I have many STDs, idiot," she said, staring at Shepard.
"Right…" Shepard was starting to get a headache again. He rubbed his face.
"So what do you want? I'm very busy, since running a nightclub is very time-consuming. You have to boss around your minions and sit here stalking."
"I'm looking for Archangel and Doctor Solus."
"If you want to find Archangel, you better hurry. Blue Suns, Eclipse and the Blood Pack are about to attack his hiding place with gunships and mechs. They're looking for freelancers over there," she nodded towards a batarian in a corner of the club.
Shepard's eyes narrowed "They need gunships and mechs to kill one guy?"
Aria's eyes narrowed "Once you see the mercs you'll understand."
The quartet now walked towards the same batarian Aria had nodded towards. The batarian lifted his head, looking at the newcomers.
"Heard you're looking for freelancers," Shepard said to him.
The batarian nodded in approval "Inside," he pointed towards a private room.
Another batarian was inside, and he also looked at the newcomers, frowning "You're here for Archangel?"
"Yup."
The batarian tapped at his terminal "Okay, so you're now part of the Operation Human Wave."
"Operation Human Wave?" Shepard asked, frowning "That's just a name, right?"
"No. The Operation Human Wave is supposed to distract Archangel long enough, so we can flank him with the gunship and heavily armored squads of soldiers."
Shepard facepalmed "That's like the stupidest plan ever. Why don't you just blast him away with that gunship?"
"We tried. He shot it down."
"So he has some heavy AA support?"
Batarian shrugged "Sort of. He has his sniper rifle."
Shepard's eyes narrowed "He shot it down with a sniper rifle?"
Batarian lifted one finger up "With one shot."
Shepard frowned even more "What is this guy? A terminator?"
"No!" the batarian gasped and began to glance around in terror. He leaned in closer "He's the Archangel," he whispered, still glancing around "They say he's over 7 feet tall, shoots fire from his eyes and lighting from his arse. "
"Right. Well, point me to him and you don't have to worry anymore."
"Go to the transportation station. We have a man waiting for you."
Shepard turned to leave, when a young man entered the room "This were I sign up!? I wanna freelance man!"
"Just how old are you, kid?" Shepard asked, frowning.
"I'm old enough dude! I can handle myself!"
"So can the Archangel, nipper. He'll blow you away," Zaeed said, crossing his arms.
"Well, I got this, oldie!" the man snapped, then pulled out a pistol.
Shepard sighed in frustration and slapped the man on the wrist casually. It made him drop the pistol and as it hit the floor, it shattered.
"Oh man! Look what you did!" the man yelped, staring at the shattered pistol.
Miranda frowned "How can pistol even shatter like that?"
"Thank me later kid," Shepard said and patted the man on the shoulder.
The shuttle at the station took them to the mercs' base of operations. The driver had told them to talk to a man called Cathka. Walking through the corridors, they saw several members of all three mercenary groups firing towards Archangel's hiding place. The Angel responded in kind, resulting several headshots. This guy was good.
The quartet found a sign in the front of a door, saying 'The big mek'. They decided to check it out, and inside they found a large Ymir heavy mech. Right next to it was a terminal, along with another sign 'Don't touch the terminal, might mess up the friend/foe system'.
"Hmm," Miranda mumbled "We might be able to use this to turn the mech against the mercenaries."
"Great. Someone can read. Do it then," Shepard said, shrugging.
Miranda frowned "This is an extremely complicated system. I do not know how to use this."
Zaeed walked closer to the terminal "Here's a button here that says 'Change IFF'."
"Press it," Shepard ordered, shrugging again.
Miranda frowned even deeper "It can't be that simple. That would be just stupid."
Shepard turned to her "Haven't you seen the mercs?"
She wondered his words for a second, the frowning disappearing "Point taken."
They walked out of the room and found a pack of humans standing near a gunship "Cathka?" Shepard asked the men.
One of them pointed towards a batarian, and the quartet approached him "Sergeant Cathka," Cathka snapped. "You're the new freelancers?" he asked, and Shepard nodded. "Good. Finally someone who looks like they can hold their own."
"We'll do more than that, mate," Zaeed responded.
Cathka snorted "That's what everyone else says too, yet we're still here."
"Maybe it's because your plan sucks," Shepard snapped, crossing his arms.
"Do your job," Cathka snapped back "We don't need you to come up with any ingenious plans."
"How about a sensible one? Why don't you try to find other routes to him?"
"We did, but Archangel sealed them off. We have some people planting explosives there, but it takes too long. Our bosses want this dealt now."
Shepard frowned "So you'll rather get people killed, than wait for a few hours?"
Cathka nodded "Yes. We are ruthless mercenaries."
"Apparently so," Shepard muttered
Suddenly Cathka put his hand on his ear, obviously listening to his radio.
"The assault begins soon, you should get ready," Cathka said, trying to light a cigarette.
Shepard looked around a little, and saw a welding torch on the table. He took it.
Cathka was still trying to light his cigarette, but his lighter wouldn't work "Son of a bitch," he tossed the lighter away, then turned towards Shepard "You got a light?"
"Sure," Shepard said, hiding the torch behind his back. He walked towards Cathka and stopped in front of him.
"Take it all," Shepard muttered and sticked the torch into Cathka. He began to scream, and Shepard took the cigarette from his mouth. Cathka staggered, while Shepard lighted the cigarette and blew smoke at him, making him fall over. Cathka now laid on the floor, fried.
"Damn son! He looks like a KFC commercial!" Jacob yelled. "That's nasty."
Miranda frowned, watching the body "Couldn't you just have knocked him out? Why did you have to kill him in such a brutal fashion?"
"He asked for a light," Shepard said blankly.
The assault begun. The mercs were going flank the Angel with heavily armored troops and a gunship, while The Operation Human Wave's job was to distract him, and, well, die. Shepard saw a glimpse of blue armor at the Angel's base, and one of the mercs fell down by Shepard's side. The quartet began to run forward.
Angel kept firing at the wave, and several mercs fell down, all dead by headshots. "Good aim, " Shepard muttered, but wondered why he hadn't been hit yet. Just then a round hit his shields, causing Shepard to pick up the pace, and the quartet reached the base. Only a few other mercs got inside, and Shepard's team opened fire on them.
"Traitors! Kill--" one of the mercs tried to yell, but was interrupted by a bullet to the mouth from Zaeed. Miranda warped one merc, Jacob tossed one against the wall and Shepard shot one to the head.
The quartet now got up to the second level, and saw a few mercs trying to open a door. Shepard and Zaeed sprayed them with bullets.
They opened the door and saw a turian in blue armor. There were angel-wings attached to the sides of his helmet.
"Archangel?" Shepard asked, and the turian lifted up one finger.
The turian carefully aimed at something, and fired. "Boom! Headshot!" he cheered, turning towards Shepard. There was a large 'A' printed on his chest, and two angel-wings crossed together under it.
Archangel took off his helmet, and crossed his arms thug-style "Shepard..." he greeted, nodding as he spoke. "Thought you were dead."
Shepard narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Blue face paint. The power scouter or whatever on his head. Of course, he should have guessed after seeing the blue armor.
"Garrus? You're the Archangel?"
"Sometimes," Garrus responded, his mandibles flickering "I just point and shoot. Works. The mercs are pretty scared."
Now Shepard crossed his arms "They're pretty pissed off too. What did you do?"
Garrus shrugged "Killed one of the boss's brother, stole their cargo, seduced their women. The usual."
"What's with the name?"
"Just something I thought up. First I came up with Batman, but I heard it was taken, so Archangel would have to do," Garrus shrugged again "The Batman-costume didn't fit anyway, so I guess it's better this way."
"The Batman-costume?" Miranda asked, voicing Shepard's thoughts.
"Yeah. A hero's gotta have a costume. Can't kick ass and save damsels in a t-shirt, lady."
"You did kick some mean ass here dawg. How'd you do it?" Jacob asked.
Garrus formed a finger pistol and pointed it at Jacob. He then draw his thumb backwards, as if cocking the gun "Bang," Garrus said and then pretended to blow the smoking barrel of the pistol. He lowered his hand "Like that."
"So how did you end up in this position?" Now Shepard asked.
"Tried to kill all the mercenary bosses at once," Garrus shrugged "Backfired. Been here for a few days now."
"Days?"
"I got good entertainment," Garrus chuckled, nodding towards the bridge Shepard and co had just ran on.
"Hope you had enough, because we're leaving now."
Garrus nodded "Well, let's see what they're up to then." He looked through the scope of his sniper rifle, observing the mercs. He saw several Loki mechs scouting ahead. "Scouts. Wanna see?" Garrus offered his rifle to Shepard.
"Nope," Shepard answered, pulling out his rocket launcher. He shot several rockets at the mechs, and they exploded. Garrus nodded in approval.
More mercenaries arrived to the bridge, but the firepower of the quintet took them down fast.
The quintet destroyed a few waves of mercenaries, then Jaroth, the leader of Eclipse, showed up.
"Jaroth," Garrus muttered.
"You know him?" Shepard asked
"Killed his brother. He really doesn't like me."
"Ouch."
Jaroth grimaced "Let's see how you handle this! Go Ymirmon, go!"
The heavy mech showed up, but it immediately began firing at the mercenaries. Jaroth barely got away.
"Your handiwork?" Garrus asked and Shepard nodded.
The heavy mech killed dozens of mercs, but Jaroth finally managed to take it down. He was the only one left.
Jaroth marched on the bridge, clearly angry. He fired his SMG with deadly accuracy, and the quintet was forced to take cover."Why the bosses are always the toughest?" Shepard asked, and Garrus shrugged.
The salarian kept approaching the base, and Shepard decided to take the fight to him.
"Stairs, Garrus!" Shepard ordered, and Garrus followed him. The rest of the team remained to guard the bridge.
Garrus and Shepard took cover behind the railing of the stairs, and could see Jaroth entering Garrus' base. Shepard and Garrus forced him to take cover.
"Jaroth! Your brother was an asshole!" Garrus yelled to him.
"Hah!"Jaroth yelled and got up, spraying bullets at the duo. Then he took cover again. "Yes! Yes he was! You truly got his number!"
"Then why are you trying to kill us?" Shepard asked, firing at the salarian.
"You do remember that I stole cargo worth of millions from him?" Garrus asked Shepard, frowning.
"Oh right, " Shepard muttered. "Forget the last question!" he yelled to Jaroth.
Shepard and Garrus got up, and started firing at Jaroth. One bullet hit him on the shoulder and he fell down on the floor.
Shepard and Garrus now stood over him, pointing their pistols at his head.
"Say hello to your brother," Garrus said.
They fired, and Jaroth lay dead. The duo returned back to the vantage point.
Suddenly, red lights started blinking inside the hideout.
"Warning! Angelcave under attack! Warning! Angelcave under attack!" a female, robotic voice announced.
"Angelcave?" Shepard asked Garrus, frowning.
"Cool name, huh? By the way, that alarm means that the mercs have managed to get through downstairs. You should go stop them."
Shepard frowned even more "And you should come with me."
"Can't come Shepard, not yet. Gotta watch the bridge..."
"Someone else can do it too."
"Gotta watch the bridge," Garrus repeated blankly.
Shepard sighed "Fine. Zaeed will stay with you."
"Roger that," Zaeed responded.