Chapter 3 Alpha Squad

After two more fire fights with locusts on the way they finally made it to the House of Sovereign. Some grubs had built makeshift barracks outside the entrance and were adamant that they weren't letting anyone pass. Kim and Carmine were gunning down the ones that ran into their line of fire but Shiro and Chiyoko were doing most of the work. Chiyoko was fighting almost solely with her tech and made sure to use her bullets wisely whereas Shiro stayed back and was casually picking them off one by one with headshots from his Black Widow. After all the Locusts had been eliminated they huddled up in front of the courtyard and knelt down behind cover to regroup.

Kim looked at Carmine who was fiddling with his Lancer.

"Are you good?" he asked him.

"Yeah but there's something wrong with this thing, I don't know it keeps jamming. Can you take a look at this…" as he spoke he stood up slightly in an attempt to give Kim the Lancer and before they knew it he had a hole through his head and was lying motionless on the floor. Shiro was the first to react and grabbed hold of Chiyoko and Kim, pulling them into cover.

"Sniper." He said but was interrupted by Kim who said the exact same thing. Another horde of locusts crawled up through the floor, their bullets penetrating the previously calm air. Shiro only needed a second to think and then spoke.

"Chi use your incineration on the ones in front." Chiyoko nodded, "I'll take out the snipers. Tell me once you finish hitting each one. Kim…no grenades…please…sir." He added and then ignoring Kim's reaction began to fire his Widow at the snipers that had killed Carmine. Chiyoko threw orange tech fire at each of the locusts and although it didn't kill them it left a lasting effect that continued to burn them.

"Shiro I'm done." She informed him as she ducked back into cover. As the last enemy sniper fell Shiro turned to look at the locust that had been hit with incineration and then flared up his biotics. He began throwing numerous biotic warps at each of them, creating fiery explosions that were contained within a biotic wall he had created to stop his allies from getting caught in the fire.

"Nice job." He praised Chiyoko but still his voice held no emotion. She just looked down at Carmine and then watched as Shiro knelt down to pick up his COG tags.

"I can't believe it. Carmine…damn." She stuttered slightly and then watched as Kim snatched his tags from Shiro and waltzed up the steps towards another giant metal door. He opened it using a different code to the previous one.

The sound of gunshots came from further within and echoed through the hallways. Shiro heard a voice within the echo and listened closer. It was a woman.

"GIVE ME FUCKING SPACE!"

He looked at the others who were wearing extremely confused expressions.

"Well I think we just found Alpha squad." He commented and then began to run down the hallway with Chiyoko and Kim following at full speed. They stood on the edge of a balcony and looked down to find a female Quarian in red and black armour and a red helmet, fighting off a whole squad of locusts with her back against the wall.

"It's a Quarian?" Chiyoko said slightly astounded at what she was seeing.

The Quarian started shouting again while firing her shotgun at the approaching locusts.

"I said give me space! What do you not understand about claustrophobia?!"

Chiyoko and Kim looked at each other baffled.

"Correction it's a claustrophobic Quarian." Shiro added, even he seemed to be confused at this development. The three watched as the Quarian took down one locust after another leaving shotgun shells to fall to the floor as she deployed her attack drone to keep the rest busy. While she was reloading a locust managed to sneak in a lucky bullet that pierced through her Quarian body armour and into her leg. Kim and Chiyoko saw her predicament and began to run down a set of stairs that led to the ground, Shiro on the other hand didn't move an inch.

"Ugh…son of a-!" she grumbled as her leg gave way due to the pain. While she was stunned and struggling to pull herself to her feet two more locusts pulled the pins on their grenades and tossed them towards her. They knew her shotgun would be lethal to them if they got too close even in her weakened state, so they were being cautious

"We're not going to get there in time!" Chiyoko shouted back to Shiro but noticed that he was no longer in the place he had been before, "Again with the disappearing act." Chiyoko stopped running and slowed her pace to a walk. Kim noticed her slow down and stopped to question her.

"Why did you stop? She needs our help?!" he shouted but Chiyoko just walked past him.

"Shiro's got it covered." She giggled.

"Crap." The Quarian grimaced as she saw the grenades land next to her. She tried to stand but couldn't muster the strength and only opened the wound on her leg further, making it twice as painful. She closed her eyes and relinquished herself to the grave when she heard the click of the grenades as they exploded. All went white and a ringing in her ears knocked her off balance and made her feel as if she were floating. The sound of gunshots caused her to open her eyes once again, only then did she realise that she wasn't floating but being carried by Shiro who was currently holding back the fire from the explosion and protecting his two teammates from bullets with biotics. He was ignoring the, now safe, Quarian in his arms and was focusing on making sure nothing got in Chiyoko and Kim's way as they charged into the battle. The two dispatched the locust squad easily with their lancers and then checked each of the bodies to ensure there were no life signs. The Quarian stared at the strange man in a metal mask -Shiro- who had just randomly appeared and was now holding her 'captive' in his arms. She pushed against his chest with her right hand and tried to make him drop her but her attempts failed and his grip didn't loosen any. It was as though he didn't even notice her and this agitated her even more, so she tried twice as hard to get away but to no avail. Seeing as she was getting nowhere she clenched her three fingers into a fist and watched as her glowing orange omni-blade digitalized around her hand and up her arm. She placed the tip of the blade to Shiro's throat and added just enough pressure as to not break through his skin. Until now he had been too concerned with the others to even notice her squirming but as soon as he felt the tech blade touch his skin, he turned his full attention to her.

"Put me down now." She grumbled in as strong a voice as she could muster while placing the blade even closer to his skin. Shiro glanced down at her bleeding leg and then looked straight at her.

"You are injured." He stated without so much as flinching. He studied her helmet and watched as her seemingly glowing eyes narrowed.

"I'm fine…now let me go!" she yelled at him this time and then dispersed her blade when she realised he was being slightly more cooperative than before.

'This Quarian is interesting' Shiro thought to himself and then proceeded by dropping her from his arms immediately.

"Ow you didn't need to drop me." She yelped and flailed her fists at him as she hit the floor. Shiro crouched down just out of her reach and commented.

"You said to 'let you go'." He then watched in amusement as she pouted slightly. "Anyway you're fine right so you should be able to stand up easily from this light fall." He taunted even though he knew she was actually in quite a bit of pain. Chiyoko and Kim were watching this odd display from a few metres away. Chiyoko smiled beneath her helmet at the change in Shiro's attitude.

"It was a figure of speech." She mumbled while still pouting and then tried to pull herself to her feet. She then cringed as a pain shot through her wound and up her leg and more blood than before seethed through her armour. She sat back down as the pain increased. "I…I can't get up." She admitted as she turned her head away from him embarrassed. Shiro let out a sigh through his helmet.

"Do you have anything to stop the bleeding with?" Shiro asked when he saw that she had a small medics pouch attached to a belt on her armour.

"Yeah hold on." She pulled some bandages out from the pouch and some medi-gel to ease the pain and speed up the healing process, then gave them to Shiro. "Here." He took them and then as gently as he could applied the medi-gel to her wound, after he had used enough he wrapped the bandages around her leg and tied them off to stop her from bleeding out any further.

"What's your name?" He asked as he checked to make sure she had no other wounds, "Also will you be okay with a suit puncture? Can't that be lethal to Quarians?" she giggled slightly at the seriousness in his tone.

"I was born on my home planet therefore I have never needed this suit to live." She giggled a little more. "It's just our tradition now." As she spoke she removed her helmet to reveal her innocent yet feminine features pale purple skin, faintly glowing light blue eyes and wavy jet black hair that reached her shoulders. "My name is Zaari Reeger Nar Rannoch and I'm with Alpha Squad."

Shiro thought for a moment before replying.

"I'm Shiro, we're Delta Squad." He pointed to Chiyoko and Kim who then waltzed over to introduce themselves.

"Is it a human thing to only give either your first or last name, never the whole thing?" Zaari asked genuinely curious.

"Vakarian." Chiyoko stated, her voice changer still implemented.

"Oh my God, he did it as well and he's not even human!" Zaari yelled now getting slightly annoyed.

Chiyoko shuffled over to Shiro.

"Did she just call me a 'he'?" she whispered but didn't actually expect to get an answer to her rhetorical question. Shiro didn't even get time to answer as Kim once again wanted him out of the way and needed information.

"Shepard! Scout the perimeter, be back here in ten." Kim ordered in his military tone. He glared at Shiro when he didn't get to it immediately and then watched as he did as he was told, proud of being able to boss around the infamous Shiro Shepard. Chiyoko furrowed her brows beneath her helmet as she watched Shiro place his lancer down next to Zaari. Kim watched him do so in confusion.

"Shepard what are you doing?" He pondered.

Shiro tilted his head back over his shoulder and spoke in a mysterious voice.

"If all I'm going to do is scout the area, then unlike you I obviously don't need my gun." He was about to walk off and then added on the end "Sir." With that he disappeared.

Zaari looked at the lancer that was now propped up next to her on the floor and then at spot Shiro had disappeared from. With a slight huff she looked at Kim who was now radioing control to tell them of her appearance and then at Chiyoko who was now sat down on a broken water feature next to her.

"So…" she turned to Chiyoko and was about to speak but was interrupted.

"No. No." Chiyoko shook her head. Zaari looked at her baffled.

"What?" she asked curious of what she meant by 'no'.

"When girls start a sentence with so…it often continues with a pick up line or a flirty comment, that is the wrong road to go down with me." Chiyoko placed her arms in the shape of an x. Zaari's face showed the expression of someone who had just had an epiphany.

"So you bat for the other team. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Hehehe." She giggled at the thoughts that filled her head. Chiyoko began to freak out about the extremely wrong ideas this Quarian was getting.

"No that's not…" she was cut short as Shiro intervened.

"Chiyoko Vakarian is a girl." He stated from behind Zaari making her almost jump out of her suit. Zaari began to turn bright red as she became more and more embarrassed in the passing seconds. Chiyoko shook her head at Shiro and pouted.

"You had to tell her my first name didn't you. Vakarian on its own sounds so awesome though." Shiro tapped her on the shoulder and retorted.

"I could have told her the other thing…" before he could finish Chiyoko swung for him and just missed his head as he ducked.

"What other thing? What is Vakarian hiding Shepard?" Kim interrupted their sibling like quarrel. Shiro and Chiyoko grew serious when they heard his questions. Chiyoko replied first.

"Nothing, Sir." She added the last part sarcastically.

"None of your business Sir." Shiro glared at Kim and also added Sir on with sarcasm. Kim looked at them both as a vein on his forehead slightly convulsed.

"Why do you keep saying Sir like that?" he asked in genuine annoyance. Both of them answered him at the exact same time and this time Chiyoko copied Shiro's monotone voice.

"No reason, Sir." Kim glared at them both and then in a bout of rage drew up close to Shiro in an attempt to hit him. Shiro blocked Kim's incoming fist easily with his hand and stood holding it in the air until Kim realised how outmatched he actually was and decided to back off, his pride now hanging around his ankles. Zaari watched the whole scene and looked at Shiro's back as he slumped down to pick up his lancer from where he had left it. He turned his head to look at her and then checked the bandages that he had wrapped around her leg.

"Can you still not walk?" he asked her as she met the lights of his mask. She once again tried to stand and then grimaced.

"Nope." She replied followed by her trying to cover the amount of pain she was feeling. Shiro studied her expression and could tell there was no way she would be able to continue on foot until the medi-gel took full effect and fixed her leg. He knelt down in front of her with one knee raised and one on the ground, he placed his arms backwards without looking in her direction.

"Get on." He then became slightly impatient as Zaari stuttered about how she wasn't going to let him carry her and it would be wrong to impose so he turned to her and spoke again, this time with more seriousness.

"I'm not leaving anyone behind again." Zaari sensed a change in his attitude and without saying anything pulled herself up onto his back. He gripped the armour on her legs and stood back up to full height with her now on his back. Chiyoko took hold of his lancer and then passed it to Zaari.

"I think you'd best hang onto this." She giggled followed by, "You two look so cute."

Zaari punched the back of her helmet when she heard the comment and then watched as Chiyoko gripped her head. Shiro watched her stumble slightly and shook his head while rolling eyes hidden behind his mask.

"Helmet…ringing…whoa I just saw a whole new world, well at least we know she can pack a punch now." She laughed as all three of them waited for Kim to give them new orders.

"Seeders are jamming transmissions. I'm having trouble getting through to control." He grumbled

"I also tried to radio for a raven evac but never got through." Zaari commented.

"Then we should make taking out those seeders our top priority…Sir." Shiro spoke with absolute certainty and it made it impossible for Kim to refuse his idea. He grumbled and looked displeased but knew Shiro was right so he had nothing left to do than agree with him.

"Agreed, we need to establish communications with control ASAP." After he had finished speaking Kim moved in front of his team and set of at a jogging pace through the halls of the ever crumbling building. Chiyoko jogged next to Shiro who was jogging while bearing the weight of Zaari on his back.

"Why do you have a voice changer?" Zaari questioned Chiyoko to pass the time and embarrassment she was feeling from relying so much on a man she had just met. Chiyoko pondered the question for a few seconds before answering.

"Well I used to help my dad catch Mercenaries in his spare time and it annoyed me when they underestimated my abilities so he gave me this." She tapped her helmet. "It was useful at the time and it just kinda stuck as a habit."

"Plus she has self-esteem issues." Shiro added into the conversation but didn't manage to say anything further as Chiyoko elbowed him in the ribs.

Chapter 3

The building shook as they ran through the hallways which, due to the weight of Zaari on his back, knocked Shiro slightly off balance. He slammed his hand against the wall and leant his weight on it to stop himself from causing more injury to Zaari. Once the rumbling had stopped and the building was once again still and quiet he resumed his pace. Chiyoko had been walking alongside them the whole time and was watching for any signs of the enemy, she saw none. Kim halted them in front of a large metal door. He entered a code into the keypad but nothing happened. Kim turned around slightly enraged and then barked out orders.

"Jack! Uncloak and rip this door."

The small robot appeared a few feet away and then manoeuvred around the now stationary Delta team to get to the door. He began burning through the locks but it was taking longer than expected. Chiyoko pouted as she looked at the robot.

"I could have done that." She grumbled and then looked away.

Zaari giggled slightly at Chiyoko's anger towards the robot taking her job. Both girls fell silent as an intensely loud screeching came from a hallway to their left. Chiyoko clamped her hands over her helmet in an attempt to dim out the sound if only a little. Kim did the same. Shiro's balance fell to nothing as his ears took the full force of the noise. All of his strength was now being put towards not dropping Zaari and staying on his feet. Zaari's Quarian mask had automatically dimmed the noise when it had started, this was a built in mechanism that helped keep the old Quarians healthy. (plus it was useful when ignoring people)

Zaari saw the amount of damage it would cause if his ears weren't shielded even a little and took hold of the sides of his head. Although he had his hood up she was hoping she had found his ears. The screeching seized moments later and the team looked toward the source. It was a wretch, they soon found out there was more than just one. They came from out of the woodwork and swarmed the inside of the building. Chiyoko began taking shots at them as they crawled along the ceiling towards them. Those that got hit by her bullets fell to the floor as lifeless corpses. Kim was still off balance and was stumbling around near the right side of the hallway, he hadn't yet realised that he was dangerously close to a locust hole in the floor that was endlessly deep. Zaari removed her hands from Shiro's ears and gripped his shoulders once again. He seemed to be clenching his teeth as the pain his, increased hybrid, hearing was causing him began to simmer down slightly. He turned his head towards Zaari and then nodded to show he appreciated her previous actions, she nodded back but looked up shocked when she glimpsed the sight of Kim slipping and falling backwards down an e-hole. Shiro saw what she was looking at and although still in pain used his biotic teleporting ability to land next to the hole and grab the flailing Kim before he fell too far. Shiro landed on his stomach and had managed to take hold of Kim's arms, Zaari was now lay sprawled on top of him and was trying to pull Kim up and over his head.

Kim clambered out of the e-hole using Shiro and Zaari's bodies as an escape ladder. Shiro bore Kim's weight with a grunt as he climbed higher and then flinched in shock as he felt a hand grab his backside. He glowed blue in frustration.

"Remove your hands." He grumbled in such a deep tone that it was scary. Kim did so only to hear the click of a gun reloading. He looked at Zaari who was now holding a shotgun towards the spot between his eyes.

"That isn't any better." She growled as he realised he had now placed his hands on her bum instead. Chiyoko who was currently engaged in an argument with a wretch who had decided to screech in her face biotically punched it and sent it flying over all three of them and into the hole. She saw the situation the three had gotten themselves into and decided to intervene. She took hold of Kim and dragged him onto his feet, then looked at him for a moment and commented.

"Pervert." She then turned to the other two as Kim became depressed while leaning his head against a wall. Chiyoko picked up Zaari from off of Shiro and waited for him to get up before placing her on his back once more.

"Don't ever touch me again." Shiro growled at Kim with ferocity in his voice. Zaari glared at him from on Shiro's back and then watched as the door swung open due to Jack completing his task. Shiro stepped through first and then perked his head up slightly when he saw some oddly shaped objects strewn across the floor. He narrowed his eyes when he realised what they were, he knelt down to get a better look and watched as Zaari reached past his head to retrieve one of them.

"What is it?" she asked in confusion as she turned it around in her hands. "It doesn't have any of the necessary properties of a weapon."

She held it in front of Shiro so he could get a better look. He only looked at it for a second before replying.

"It's a transmitter for the Hammer of Dawn." He sighed slightly as he remembered the amount of destruction such a thing could cause in the wrong hands and how they had just been left here for anyone to retrieve. "Only when outside and if the satellite is online it can be used. You just need to aim and hold the trigger. Preferably make sure there are no friendlies within a ten meter radius of the strike zone."

He spoke as if he was reading directly from a manual and Zaari just nodded her head as she stored the data in her helmet.

"Keep hold of that we might need it." He instructed and then watched as Chiyoko picked up another that was lay slightly further away. Shiro ducked down under a windowsill that looked out onto an open pathway as two locusts ran past in a hurry. Zaari squeezed closer into his back to stop them from noticing her and in doing so shocked him slightly. Zaari felt him flinch and waited until Chiyoko had dispatched the locusts with a grenade before questioning him about it.

"Why did you jump so much a minute ago?" she asked looking quite shot down. Chiyoko heard what she had asked and sighed slightly before answering her question for him.

"He's got serious personal space issues. Usually he wouldn't allow anyone near him unless under dire circumstances." Chiyoko giggled as she spoke and then looked at Shiro's glowing mask. "You're glaring at me right now aren't you?"

Shiro didn't even answer as she already knew what he would say. Kim opened a door onto the open terrace and was about to walk outside but became enraged as Shiro took hold of the back of his armour.

"What do you think you're doing?" He growled in anger.

"Enemies." Shiro gave him a short one word answer and the pointed to an e-hole at the other side of the pathway that was hidden by a large amount of broken stone. He then pointed towards a large creature that was excreting more smaller, flying versions of itself. "Target… Seeder."

Kim grumbled to himself but took a few steps back towards Chiyoko, Shiro and Zaari. Chiyoko looked at Shiro who slowly knelt down and placed Zaari on an old stone bench.

"What are you thinking?" She questioned him and watched as he peered out of the doorway while leaning his back against it.

"Hey I'm the captain here. You take orders from me, not Shepard." Kim glared at Chiyoko as he spoke but fell quiet when she retorted.

"Hmmm, well would you like to share your plan then Sir?" she asked in an annoyed tone. When he screwed up his face, she happily knew she had won the argument. "Shiro is the only person I know who can come up with over a hundred possible strategies in less than a minute. I'd love to see you do that." She smirked.

Zaari glanced over to where Shiro had for the past minute or so been ignoring the other two who were bickering. She caught herself wondering just what he looked like underneath his mask and hood. She looked away when he moved from against the doorway. Shiro stood in the middle of Kim and Chiyoko and stared at Kim from behind his mask.

"If you have no suggestions, may I give my opinion on our situation?" He asked in a rather polite tone. Kim took a step away from him and then nodded as his face twisted into a scowl.

"Chi and Zaari have acquired two transmitters for the Hammer of Dawn. If we are lucky the satellite may still be online and we can use them to take out the Seeder. As for the locusts we will need to get rid of them first, that job will be left to us, I will need you to distract them long enough for me to make a hole in their cover and in doing so make a route to the other side. Those Nemecysts the Seeder is making will become a serious problem if we don't do something about it soon so I would like to have Zaari keep an eye on the air while we fight, that is only if she has regained even the slightest ability to stand yet." Shiro finished talking and then looked at Zaari who had been listening to the plan.

All of Delta squad watched as she slowly hoisted herself to her feet. She lost her balance as she tried to stand up too quick and was about to fall down when Shiro appeared behind her. He took hold of her arms as she leant against him for support and then put a bit more pressure on her leg. She winced but held firm. He let go of her when he saw her resolve and then bent down to check the wound on her leg. He saw that it had begun to bleed again and narrowed his eyes (though nobody could tell he was doing so).

"If my calculations are correct then it should only take us a few minutes to finish the fight. Only put as much weight on your leg as you feel possible. Afterwards I will lend you my back again." He glanced at her as she nodded, then stood back to full height and turned to Kim, "Is this plan good enough for you? If so we should execute it swiftly whilst Zaari can still stand."

Kim nodded and ran out of the door first to get the locusts attention. Chiyoko followed him and ducked behind the wall closest to the Seeder. Shiro took hold of Zaari around the waist and teleported her to a safe spot on the building's roof above them. He then returned to the fight and put his strategy in motion. A large laser struck the Seeder where Chiyoko had locked onto it and proved just how menacingly powerful the Hammer of Dawn really was.

Everything worked perfectly and only a minute or so had passed by the time they had destroyed the Seeder, Nemecysts and Locust platoon, Shiro teleported up to the roof as he saw Zaari's leg give way and got there just in time to catch her with his back.

"Thank you for the hard work." He murmured as he teleported back down to the floor. She smiled softly when she heard him say this and thought to herself. 'Maybe this guy isn't as bad as Kim's making him seem…but I bet Prias won't like him…'

As they carried on through more buildings they easily found and dispatched another Seeder with the Hammer of Dawn.

"Man I'm glad we have this thing!" Chiyoko giggled as she hugged her new toy.

"Hmph, you lucked out. It's just a good thing the satellite is still online otherwise you wouldn't have been able to use it." Kim harrumphed his way towards another hallway.

Shiro rolled his eyes at both of them.