Chapter 4

The squad progressed quickly through the next few rooms. Kim leading the way as they stepped into a large room that doubled as a tunnel a large chandelier hung over the entrance and began to swing slowly back and forth as they entered. One of the noticeable features were the pews that made this room look like a large human chapel, which in these times was an extremely rare thing to see. Zaari watched Shiro closely as he seemed to be slightly agitated, she then switched her gaze to Chiyoko who also seemed more focused now than she was before.

Chiyoko squirmed. "I really don't like places like these. They make me feel so awkward. Being abominations and all…"

Shiro only commented with "Can you also smell blood or is that just me?"

Zaari reacted the only way she knew how, with a sarcastic "Whoops, my bad. Sorry for bleeding."

Kim tried his best to radio command once again.

"Command? Come in Command." There was a brief silence before a glitch reply came through on their headsets.

"We read you Delta but your signal is extremely weak." Trainer was finally able to get through on the comm. Kim sighed in relief for a moment and then replied.

"We are on route to Alpha squads position and should be arriving there shortly." Kim stopped for a moment as another transmission from the Raven gunship cut him off.

"Delta have you found Alpha is the DC clear? Fuel is running low we must pick you up soon, are we clear to land?" Kim shouted in shock,

"No DC is not clear! I repeat DC is not clear! Abort that plan of action." Afterwards the comms went silent and all they could do was hope they had heard their warning.

They continued through a small arch that lay behind a large book stand that had once held religious tomes. As soon as they got to other side Shiro looked down to where a Gears body now lay. The body had been dismembered and mutilated to no end and it was almost impossible to determine who it was. Thankfully the COG tags lying slightly to the side gave them a name. Shiro took hold of them as he carefully knelt down and handed them to Zaari who was shaking slightly on his back.

"So that's where that smell came from. I believe you should keep hold of these." He said. Zaari turned the tags around in her hands and replied.

"Shit…its Rojas. Those bastards." She shook even more now, although Chiyoko couldn't tell whether that was from anger or grief. Chiyoko looked at Shiro's back for a moment before walking alongside him.

"Maybe I didn't do you any favours, getting you out of prison." She sounded unsure of herself and he just tapped her on the head as he stepped forward.

They climbed another set of stairs and had to eliminate a few locusts that were guarding the last seeder but it all went rather smoothly. As soon as the last one was out of the way their comm systems came back online almost immediately and this time the signal was as clear as it ever could be. Delta squad were about to continue moving when a new voice blared out over the radio.

"This is Alpha squad where the fuck are you guys?!" Shiro tilted his head as the unknown voice was rather loud. Zaari on the other hand replied to it immediately.

"Kilah. Prias, Is that you? where have you been?" she grinned at his reply.

"That's what I've been wanting to ask medic." As soon as he had finished speaking all of Delta squad turned to look at Zaari. She looked a little awkward and then added.

"What can't a medic be on the frontlines too?" Shiro answered her question before anyone else could.

"Yes. But the medic isn't going to be a very helpful one if they always get themselves shot. If the medic goes down who's going to be able to heal them?"

Kim cut them off in the middle of their lecture. "Alpha we are in the house of Sovereign."

They all listened through their radios as an even more annoyed and hectic reply came from Prias. "Great. We're pinned down by troikas on YOUR rooftop over!"

Kim straightforwardly answered and all of his team including Zaari looked at him with an 'are you an idiot' face. "We'll take em out. Sit tight."

Prias grumbled out a matter of fact reply. "We're not going anywhere Sir."

Delta set off at a run and carefully dispatched the next few groups of locust. Shiro managed to maintain biotic barriers that protected them from any lucky bullets that they couldn't dodge and with Chiyoko and Zaari using tech their enemies never really stood a chance. Kim began to speak down his radio once again as they ran along an open balcony.

"We have eyes on your location now Alpha."

A reply soon came followed by a bombardment of gunshots "Great I'd like your ammo on our location right now."

Chiyoko turned and looked at Shiro "This guy sounds like more of an ass than you." Shiro didn't take long to reply.

"I'm just straightforwardly honest it's up to others how they take what I do and say. But this guy just seems to piss people off on purpose." Zaari giggled and then gave Chiyoko a confused look when she heard her say.

"Don't be a Krogan. Don't be a Krogan."

They continued running for a short while. Small groups of locust soldiers got in their way but none were left by the time they had gone through. They arrived at a large circular room that looked a lot like an old Roman coliseum, there were rows of seats set high above the floor that were out of reach from where they stood and in the middle of the floor a large round table sat looking out of place. Zaari peered around the room rather curious about the odd structure.

"Wow there is a lot of history here." She mumbled without thinking. Shiro heard her and added his own part on aswell.

"Yeah…a lot of lies too." Kim overheard him and grumbled rather blatantly

"You've got some nerve soldier. I've heard all about your trial." Just as the last word came out of his mouth a loud bang and cracking sound cut through the air from where Chiyoko was now stood, her clenched fist embedded in the wall she had just punched.

"His trial was a sham!..Sir." her helmet masked her facial expression but in that situation anyone could tell she was a little more than just slightly enraged, the real question was who she was actually angry at. Kim or herself. Shiro walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine. Stay calm." He then let go. Chiyoko peered at him through her helmet and then removed her hand from the now cracked and dented wall with a sigh. Zaari looked amazed as she asked her how she didn't manage to break her hand when she did that. Chiyoko only grinned and replied with 'Turians have a denser bone structure'. Zaari stared at the back of Shiro's head as she remembered something that Prias had once told her about a certain soldier doing something that ended with him being demoted, stripped of all honour and sent to the most high security cryo prison they could think of on Sera.

They got to an advantageous position above the main street. They were now on the opposite side across from were Alpha was positioned. Two troikas were placed to gun down any COG that dared to face them, at the time the locust obviously didn't expect they would be the ones these two were used on. Chiyoko and Kim took their time using the troikas to clear any locusts from the street below and any nemacyts that came at them from above. Once they had finished they stepped onto the street and watched as Alpha squad did the same from the other building.

Zaari called out to a male Turian who was leading the group in a cheery voice "Prias. Kilah it is good to see you."

Chiyoko peered at him from behind Shiro with hesitation and then huffed. "Oh so it's not a Krogan…that's kind of a let-down. Plus why'd it have to be that guy to boot?"

Shiro looked back at Zaari.

"Can you walk okay if I put you down?" she checked her wound and then with a satisfied look replied

"Thanks to you taking the weight off of it I think it's fine. I should be able to walk now. Thank you…for carrying me." She looked embarrassed as Shiro gently lowered her legs down onto the floor. As soon as she had her balance back she hobbled over to Prius.

"Are you injured? Where's Rojas?" he asked her and then watched as she shook her head and held out his tags. He looked down and the looked passed her as he caught a glimpse of Shiro's mask. His eyes narrowed slightly and then he went back to focusing on Zaari.

Chiyoko glanced around and then turned her attention to Shiro who seemed to be looking for something.

"What's up?" she asked cautiously. He couldn't answer her specifically but shook his head as he continued to look from building to building and then down each end of the street.

"Something feels off." Was all he could say before the sound of the incoming Raven cut through the air, he watched intently as it flew through the narrow building and then noticed what it was that had made him feel tense. An array of locusts were to surrounding the street and were now climbing through the building into position, Shiro turned his attention to an even bigger threat that came in the form of a nemascyst that was now hurling towards the wide open gunship.

"Shit! Everybody down!" he yelled as loudly as possible and even Chiyoko was shocked at the amount of urgency his voice had portrayed. Every squad member scattered as far away from the middle of the street as possible and ducked behind any type of cover they could find. The Raven had no time to dodge the incoming enemy and was instantly set ablaze and took with it half of a building that stood in its crash path. The building and Raven then showered down onto the street and almost crushing Alpha and Delta. If it had ended with just that it would have been a blessing, then the locust decided it was time to strike with everything they had. They charged into the street from either side and continuously aimed bullets towards the Gears with no remorse. Kim had been separated from the rest and was on the opposite side of the now downed and burning gunship using his lancer to keep them at bay. One of Alpha squad's team members took a bullet to his chest that pierced his armour and fell to the floor lifeless. Prias swore at the locusts and was returning fire. Zaari was also doing the same. Chiyoko was shooting shorts bursts from her lancer and then ducked down next to Shiro panting.

"Isn't there any way to get out of this?" she asked him.

"Our way out is back where Alpha came from but how to get Kim over here is-" His line of thought was cut off abruptly at the arrival of a large locust general donned in black robes. The two of them could do naught but watch as it stepped up behind Kim and with ease, impaled him on a large barbed black sword. Shiro was about to teleport over to him when Chiyoko took hold of his shoulder and began pulling him back.

"Shiro we have to go." She yelled and then ran after the fleeing Alpha squad who were waiting for them to catch up before barring the doors of the building they had emerged from earlier. Shiro followed and protected them with biotics as they fled.

So yeah...I've been having issues with writers block. I have so many ideas in my head for all the different stories I have on my laptop...but whenever I try to write them down, I blank. So I'm hoping that will have magically dissipated the next time I write a bit more of this story but who knows. Sorry if the next chapter takes awhile I uploaded all four of these at once so don't hate meh. ^.^"

Thanks for reading and drop me a review.