Welcome back. More battling, so I hope you like battling. Remember! Every time you comment, Grunt is given something to smash. I've got a baby grand piano lined up next for him. Enjoy!

Mechs. There were easily forty of the crates here, and each one contained a LOKI security mech. And the crates were opening.

"I'm coming in!" Archangel shouted over the radio, ducking out of his sniper point, running for the stairs.

Weaver's voice crackled over the radio, "We're outside, we lost radio contact, what the hell is g-going on?"

"Mechs!" Vortash shouted with a hint of panic, watching one after another unfold itself from inside the crates. He backed away, pulling out his M-8, firing at the one closest to him.

"Target located," came the pleasant mechanized voice, and the LOKI lifted its pistol to return fire.

Ripper was still chasing the running salarian down, while Melanis spun to fire at the mech nearest to him, then dove for cover behind a desk.

"How many mechs? When did they get mechs? Mechs to guard d-drugs?" Weaver asked, still trying to catch up. He caught sight of Archangel sprinting towards the warehouse's front door, and quickly chased after, Erash at his heels.

"There aren't any drugs," Archangel growled. "This was a trap." Eclipse put out false information to lure him here. He should have seen that. Damn it. He lifted a foot to kick in the front door, then blinked, stepping back, stunned by the sheer number of mechs. He could see at least thirty here, and another ten up on the second story platform where Melanis, Vortash, Ripper, and the salarian were. But not just any salarian. Velig. He and his brother ran Eclipse on Omega. It looked like he came out here to take care of Archangel personally.

Velig kept on running from Ripper, sprinting down the stairs two at a time, weaving in between the mechs that recognized him alone as friendly. Ripper let out a "Shit!" and stumbled back up the way he came as the mechs laid heavy fire on him. He swept his arm upwards, teeth gritting. A biotic shockwave rolled away from him, sending several mechs as well as Velig flying into the air and then crashing heavily back to the ground.

Velig let out a yelp of pain as one of the mechs landed atop him. The machine beeped then apologized, crawling off the salarian and offering to him help up.

Vortash slid into Melanis' cover, shaking his head, tapping his wrist to bring up his omni-tool's display. "Fucking mechs. Keep them off for like three more seconds…"

"God damn!" Weaver shouted, sliding into cover behind the open warehouse door, while Erash slipped behind an empty crate beside Archangel. "It's a god damned army!"

"Vortash all right?" Erash asked into the radio, leaning out of cover to take out two mechs with his SMG.

"Stop asking me that, dammit! I've had bigger holes in me from body piercings, Erash! Shut up and let me concentrate!" He scrolled through the omni-tool's display, seeing out the mech's communication frequency. Velig covered his tracks well. It wouldn't be a snap to hack in and take control of the mechs.

Archangel leaned over a crate, peering through his scope as he took out another mech on the platform, trying to keep as many off Vortash and Melanis as possible. His team was laying some damage into the machines, but they wouldn't be able to keep up against these numbers for long. One mech rounded his cover, then another, both bots firing rapidly into his shields. He cursed, pushing Erash out of the way, "Move! New cover, go, go!"

Ripper was now back with Melanis and Vortash, making a fist, eyes narrowed. Three more mechs lit up with his biotic energy, floating into the air and over the platform's railing. "Where'd Velig go?"

Velig was moving with one of the mechs, being escorted to a side door. Archangel spotted him first, adjusting his sights to the salarian. He held his breath, steadying his shot, then fired. There was a cloud of green blood, and Velig spilled onto the floor, twitching. "No longer a problem."

"Got it!" Vortash whooped, "Got it, mother fucker! One! Hack that shit!"

One of the mechs who had been descending the staircase, walking towards the three men below, paused briefly. Its lights blinked, turning from red to white, then it turned and began firing on the other mechs. "Hostiles recognized," it sang in friendly tones.

"Yeah, one. Bravo," Melanis hissed through clenched teeth, ducking back behind the desk. "Can you do that again? Like, twenty more times?"

"You want to do it, Junior? Be my fucking guest."

Ripper remained behind cover for another few moments, sweat beading on his brow. He leaned out, firing a few more times at the army of mechs, then sucked in a breath, lifting up his arm and sending three more floating helplessly into the air. A slow trickle of blood began to dribble from his nose. He really needed to upgrade his biotic implant. He really should have done that already.

Archangel quickly took out Velig's escort bot, then dove back behind cover as he felt his kinetic shield shatter. He should have brought Mierin along. An explosion would help about now. Or Krul. A charging krogan could have done a lot of damage. Chalk it up as another fuck-up on Garrus' behalf. He sucked in a breath and shouted into the radio, "Archangel to anyone on the channel and not here! GET HERE!"

Slim chance. This was supposed to be easy. Everyone else slipped away for the weekend to have social lives. Hell, Butler had a family. Half the time Garrus had to throw the man out of the base to go spend time with them.

The hacked mech jogged backwards, firing with incredible accuracy. Five shots at one LOKI, turn, repeat.

Erash kept moving, drawing fire. He slid behind another crate, fingers moving quickly over his omni-tool. Vortash was the tech expert on this team, but he'd taught his brother a thing or two, giving him a few handy upgrades. Erash leaned out of cover, holding out his arm and a flash of light blast from his omni-tool. It was a close range EMP that overloaded the mech that was closing in on him, and it stumbled back and fell. Erash dove back behind cover, and the mech twitched on the floor before it popped with a small explosion, knocking the leg off another LOKI right beside it. That mech hopped once, then fell.

"Ugh!" Weaver ducked back behind his cover, then scrambled across the room, blood pouring from his ear. LOKI mechs didn't strategize. They didn't duck or stop to think, they just came at you, firing endlessly. And shoot your ears. "What would happen if we retreated?" He wiped the blood off his neck, and ran to the bottom of the stairs, crouching and firing at those on the second level. It was getting clear enough up there for Melanis, Ripper, and Vortash to make a break for it.

"We'd live another day?" Ripper hopped over his cover, laying down cover fire, "Go, downstairs, go!" He sucked in a breath and threw up a biotic barrier, watching Melanis and Vortash sprint from behind the crates and run for the first floor. Ripper threw the barrier at the remaining mechs, knocking them down. He ran for the stairs to regroup, vision blurring. "Fuck me…" He put a hand to his head.

"They'd just follow us, these things don't give up!" Archangel barked. "Keep moving!"

Ripper collapsed behind a crate, wiping the blood from his face. Melanis slid into place beside him. Ripper overexerted himself. "Go get in the van, Ripper!" He glanced behind him, and blinked, spying Velig still on the floor, and still breathing. Still alive. "You gotta be shitting me." The turian ducked under the mech fire, crawling closer to the salarian. He was sputtering a death rattle into his omni-tool, something in his native tongue. Melanis scowled at him, turning his shotgun and settling the muzzle of it under Velig's chin.

Velig's eyes widened as he stared at the turian over him. "Archangel," he gasped, green blood foaming at the corners of his mouth.

Melanis' right mandible lifted in a crooked grin, and he fired, putting the salarian out of his misery and leaving the floor covered in his brain matter. "Nnnope." He refocused his attention on Ripper now that he was standing in front of the side door, "Go already!" He lifted the shotgun to drop another mech, his own kinetic shield shattering under the barrage.

"Like hell. Gun still works even if my biotics are blinking out on me." Ripper rolled onto his knees, returning fire.

Vortash had found a new hiding spot and was again trying to hack a mech. He looked up to see Erash sliding in behind him, leaning out to fire at the mechs and keep him covered. "Oh, fuck you. Draw them over here, that's just awesome."

"You are such a whiny ungrateful little bitch."

"Did I ask you to come over here? Did I? Did I ask you to follow me to Archangel? No. So fuck you." Vortash laughed suddenly, slapping his knee, "Got another one!"

Another LOKI chirped, "Hostiles. Drop your weapons, please," before it too turned and fired on the other mechs.

"Keep it up, Vortash!" Archangel shouted. They were gaining. Bit by bit. They were dropping them one at a time, working as a team, and turning the tide. "Erash, overload the one heading towards Ripper, that'll take out two more when it goes off. Melanis, run down the middle to me, keep 'em spinning! Weaver, you've got two on your ass, I said keep moving!" Damn. He might actually be good at this. Here he thought he was fooling himself for the past year. He leaned out of cover again, watching each of his men performing exactly as he'd asked, and by the time Melanis had crossed the room, they were down to nine hostile mechs.

Weaver slid back beside Archangel, grinning ear to bleeding ear. "This is easy."

"You're going to jinx us." He leaned out of cover, narrowing his eyes, popping off two more rounds, watching the mechs fall. "You've got red on you."

"Yeah, I know. Nicked me. I'll live." He wiped his ear, looking at his hand.

Melanis was still running back and forth and around in circles, drawing fire. He let out a yelp, throwing himself behind cover, "God damn it, Erash, shoot at the mechs, not me!"

"Don't run into my bullets then! You all right?"

"Yeah… ow." He rolled back to his feet slowly, hand cupping his stomach as he scanned the room. "We done already?"

The floor was littered with disembodied robot limbs and white plastic shrapnel. Archangel rose slowly, breathing hard. He scanned the room as a grin slowly spread on his face. "Amazing work, gentlemen. Hot damn." He shook his head a little in disbelief. "Injuries?"

"What?" Weaver asked with a wide grin of his own, cupping his bloody ear.

"That thing is gonna hurt like a bitch when the adrenaline wears off," Erash observed, and turned to look Vortash over. "We're good."

Ripper was back on his feet, leaning against one of the crates, looking nauseous. "Good here. Melanis?"

"Bruised… ugh. You might have cracked me. I'm good." He straightened with a wince, then laughed, "Six men versus forty LOKIs. That is going on my resume."

Archangel had wandered back to the dead salarian. He crouched to activate the dead man's omni-tool, playing back the last transmission. "Now we can retreat. He's got reinforcements coming." He looked over Velig as he straightened. "And we got one of the two Eclipse bosses. This calls for a celebration."