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[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Anika kicked back against the interceptor and looked down at her barrier belt. Reaching down she thumbed on the device. Without her armor she was feeling exposed in the open air and the hum of the device made her feel better. Looking up, Anika sighed.

 

"I guess we're on standby till  we get called.... Or the action comes to us". She scanned the area before tilting her head upwards to see along the upper reaches of where they waited. "I thought I might have been picking up on things between Iole and Frank you know. I put it down to my imagination. If they decided to be together.... I get it. Daft but I get it. I mean, there's someone I want to be with but duty keeps me from making that commitment". She turned to look at Naleena. "Throw in your word to follow what you feel is important or follow through on your commitments and be apart from who you love. Were they in love"? Anika asked. "I thought I was being silly thinking..... I mean Frank's fun but..... And Iole? I can't think of a more mismatched pair".

 

"I guess they were in love. But you see mismatched couples all the time," Naleena replied

 

The car exploded.

 

Naleena saw what she thought was a muzzle flash coming from a four story building. "We're on Anika. Let's move," she said and got her communicator to C-sec. "Detective Kielb, she's in a four story building. Sending you the coordinates. We're moving to intercept," then she turned to Anika as she drew her SIG and threw a clip of AP/incendiary rounds in. "Stay close to the wall."

 

Irina

 

Irina followed Jenus, drew her shotgun and checked to make sure it was loaded. "I don't know about you, Jenus, but in my book the b*tch doesn't get a third strike," she said and heard Naleena over the comm, "And we got backup. The boss is moving in."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne had only enough time to blink as the explosion was set off, the krogan getting knocked down to his knee as he scrambled for cover behind a nearby parked car. He stared wide eyed, his hearing ringing as blinked, realizing something as he turned his head. "IRINA!? JENUS!?" He called out loudly, half over the ringing and half out of fear of where they might have gotten caught up in the explosion.

 

Hearing the familiar voice screaming out in rage made vayne sigh in relief, before he switched out his weapon layout. This ****** wasn't going to get ballisitc blades to the face. For this one, she was gonna burn.

[TheMajonese]

Zakera Ward

 

Reloading the rifle was time-consuming but Quinn had more than enough. She looked at the three remaining rounds for the gun on her belt. Two of them were of a dark grey colour, while the last one was another explosive projectile, like the one which had just destroyed the car. After pondering for a moment what move would be best now, she grabbed one of the grey can like rounds and began the reloading procedure. She would save the last explosive round for a moment when she really needed it. Or wanted to blow something up.

 

Of course the attack had caused some turmoil on the parking lot and as expected, C-Sec was taken by surprise and needed a moment to react, while the spectre and her team immediately began moving towards her position. Unlike C-Sec, they were certainly used to deal with more than just thiefs or dealers. But that wasn't going to be problem, at least if Quinn remained concentrated.

 

She took up the rifle, charged it and aimed down at the street in front of the building. This time Quinn didn't even use the rifle's scope. When the spectre and her team moved from the parking lot and headed for the building that she was hiding on, she fired the next round.

 

With extremely high velocity, the round hit the street almost fifty meters away from the spectre and her team and burst with a small detonation. For a moment, it looked like the shot had just completely missed any target. Due to the diagonal impact on the street, the momentum carried the seemingly harmless remains of the projectile towards the parking lot. Five tiny canisters were scattered over the length of the street, emitting a light grey gas. Then there was the sound of another detonation, this time the whole street seemed to explode but it was only a dense, almost black smoke, forming a dark gray wall between the high apartment buildings. Even parts of the parking lot were covered with it.

 

Guess I got their attention... Quinn couldn't help but grin when she loaded the rifle with the second smoke bomb. I love science... Then she began to climb down the building. In addition to the heavy weight of the gun and her sword, the pain in her shoulder, caused by the absurd recoil, made it hard for her to reach the ground without wasting too much time. Two and a half meters above the ground she just released the mag locks and skip the rest of the distance.

 

After checking the energy core of her sword and the fit of her mask, Quinn activated the thermal cloak of her armor. She didn't think much of cloaking devices, in her opinion, they were too unreliable. But right now, she was improvising and that included doing the seemingly dumbest thing she could do. The eyes of her mask began to glow red, when Quinn enabled her own thermal sight. With her sword drawn, she ran right into the dense smoke.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus

"All right, why is it I'm the level headed one?"  Jenus shouted as the cannisters of smoke erupted.  "You take people like this alive.  She could have shot to kill, instead of play with us.  She could have information.  And she might have Arian alive."

Jenus stood out of cover, drawing her claymore, as the wall of black smoke it.  Expertly, and without being able to see, she affixed her rebreather and a pair of goggles to protect her eyes, though they had no particular enhancements on them.

"Now everybody, if you can manage it," Jenus said in a much more calm voice, "Everybody shut up."

With light footfalls, Jenus stepped to the side, using her situational memory to place herself behind another car, so her position had been changed, and so she still would be out of sight from something other than the smoke wall.  Then she listened. Very, very carefully. 
 

[Kel Riever]

...somewhere in the Terminus Systems

Iyana watched the last of the fights in the arena beneath her.  A man plunged her dagger into the heart of a woman beneath him, who had accused him of forcing himself on her.  Another case where there were no witnesses.  Another case that had little meaning to Iyana, other than the carnal satisfaction of its resolution, and all that it did to establish the future of her order.  In fact, this last match was no contest whatsoever, simply the stronger overcoming the weaker.  Xhuan, she knew, would be pleased.

As the victors were put in front of Iyana, to receive her acquittal, she didn't bother to stand.  The salarian still stood out, the one unusual result, and it was because he paid her the proper respect.   That lesson had been learned by the others who fought.  He was wild eyed, every façade of his previous life blown to pieces.  Iyana knew the event had molded him into just the citizen she wanted in her new community. 

With a lazy, dismissive wave of the back of her hand, Iyana declared, "You all are deemed innocent by the trials of combat.  Go now and resume your lives, knowing that today, you have received justice."

While the victors were led away, Iyana let her devious mind wander to the other events she had in place, occurring in her network across the galaxy.  There was a mechanical quality to it, like a machine that clicked and whirred and made its builder happy with its ballet of function.  It was a storm of her own creation that she adored.  Since the loss of the family on Earth, Iyana had needed something to restore her, to bring her back on her path.  It was a gut feeling, nothing more than that, but Iyana felt like her best moments were yet to come.

[Cknarf]

Frank

 

“Batarian markings… Yeah, that really fuckin’ narrows it down.”

 

“Reddish brown, Eli.”

 

“They’re all reddish brown!”

 

“Right... It’s got my name on it.”

 

“Because I can totally read turian. This **** all looks the same-- Wait, I think I found it.” Frank pulled out a case with something scrawled in blue paint. He tried pulling it open, only to find it locked. With a shrug, he pulled it from the stack, and headed for the stairs.

 

“This feels awfully light. What’s in here?”

 

“Somethin’ special. You’ll see.”

[Redbelle]

Anika winced as plumes of smoke erupted around them.

 

Grud dammit I want my armor!

 

Without her helm and the sealed environment of her suit, all Anika could do was call to Naleena. "I don't have a riot kit". She said referring to the equipment used by C-Sec officer's who used eye and airway protection to enter zones zone's they gassed when gathering's turned from angry protests into a full blown mob. "I can head back to the interceptor. Get one there...... I can ride high above the smoke too". She went on. "Use the on-board thermograph to detect who is where".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena looked back at Anika. "Go.... and grab me one, too."

 

She watched the way the gas spread and switched her omnitool's ocular display to thermal, and waited for Anika.

 

****

 

Irina

 

The gas pellets popped on the pavement, and Irina saw them. She followed Jenus' lead backing her up with her shotgun.

[Redbelle]

Falling back Anika hoofed it and escaped the cloud of steadily building up smoke.

 

But not all.

 

Already visibility in the surrounding area was getting bad from the smoke that was hanging in the air. Anika reached the interceptor and popping the cargo compartment ran through what she needed. First she pulled two riot packs. Fixing both to her belt  she pulled the re breather and set it on before reaching for and yanking a standard, quick fitting armor vest that she slid on and fixed to herself. On the vest she found two cylinder's but didn't have time to read what they were before a wave of smoke blew past her. A pistol also beckoned and Anika stuck it to the hard point on her thigh without so much as a second thought.

 

Wish I had my armor.

 

Grabbing another vest she turned to go, but stopped and popped the canopy. The interceptors sensor suite was a joke in her view after being spoiled by the military grade gear she usually carried. At best they had maybe fifty meter's of scan range that the buildings interrupted. It was better than nothing however. She toggle the suite on and pointed it in the direction of where she thought the shots had come from. Then tuned her Omnitool into the suite and turned to go, popping her goggles on as she did.

 

Hurrying back to Naleena she tried the suite and found that the interface display was limited to a small portion of what the suite was reading. Growling something about badly compatible gear she returned back to where she'd left Naleena and was grateful to find her quickly in so much as the smoke cover meant she practically ran into her.

 

"Here"! She said pulling the second riot kit out and handing it to Naleena. "Any progress"?

[TheMajonese]

Zakera Ward

 

Highly disciplined...!, was her assessment of the spectre's team reaction. Despite the fact that they were facing an unknown enemy with unknown capabilities, they didn't start running or blindly shooting through the smoke. Quinn had already seen responses like that, but the spectre and her team waited for her to do the first move. She didn't like the silence, she couldn't hear anything from inside the smoke. There were a few alarmed voices from the parking lot and the streets behind her but nothing from her enemies.

 

Okay then...but I'll need a bigger arena. Carefully she grabbed her rifle and aimed at the ground fiveteen meters in front of her. After pulling the trigger she immediately stepped aside and changed her weapons again, while the noise of the projectile's detonation covered the sounds of her steps for a moment. The tiny canisters were carried to the parking lot and a moment later, the C-Sec cars disappeared inside the dense smoke as well. 

 

Quinn took her sword with both hands and let its tip scratch over the metal ground, causing a metal screak that even hurt in her own ears. She slowly moved closer to the position of the spectre and the tall woman. Then she suddenly raised her sword and changed her direction, this time she was headed towards the asari and the red-haired woman. After a short sprint, she put all her strength in a wide leap that carried her onto the car which they were using as cover. She touched the metal with one foot, jumped over the two women and turned around in midair, her sword raised for an attack against the asari. The moment Quinn's feet touched the ground, she activated her decoy and then used the momentum of her leap to complete the whole turn. Crap! This acrobatic maneuver almost made her lose balance. Carrying two heavy weapons sucks!, she thought as she began to sprint towards the C-Sec cars.

 

The decoy remained behind and finished the overhead downward slash against the asari.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena strapped on her mask. "I know you don't like it, but that suit of commando armor was in the closet."

 

She recognized the scrape on the ground, put up her barrier. "Look out!" she shouted then saw the decoy complete its move through Jenus with no effect. Her thermal picked up some movement on the other side. Naleena cloaked and drew her o-wakizashi with her left hand, with her SIG in her right and ran through the smoke. She wants to fight blades or guns, I'm ready.

[Kel Riever]

It was the sound that threw Jenus the most.  She hear the sword scrape, then the footfall on the car, then through the smoke saw what she thought was the woman swinging at her.  

Spinning her grip on the Claymore in an instant, so the barrel ran along the length of her arm, Jenus raised the Claymore, personalized to her build, like a buckler running alongside her arm. It might or might not have been a good defense, depending on the quality of the blade, but it was a secondary defense.  Her primary defense was that when the blade struck, she was no longer there.

Jenus had biotically dashed to the side, and when she came out of it, she was in a low crouch, with one leg extended.  The goggles she wore were clear, and her dark eyes searched, realizing that it had been only a holograph that had swung and her.  But it was sound again that gave her a cue, this time an extra stumble.  The greatest fear was that if Jenus struck, she could hit a teammate.  But some of her attacks had more control over their offensive capability than others.

One was her Vanguard charge.  The dash had depleted some of her biotic power and she could dampen a bit more.  She couldn't tell who it was by the sound of the extra footfalls from the stumble, but she could sense there was a life force there.  Coiled muscles released, and more importantly, biotics augmented the speed and strength of Jenus so she travelled the distance in an instant.  She didn't know how her target would react but she hoped she was in for one hell of a surprise, and that a sword blade would not happen to end up between her and the woman.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne was not having a good time. The smoke was thick, and he was already disadvantaged one optic verus everyone else. He didn't have a mask like the others, and so his eyes stung every time he kept them open too long. It wasn't something that he couldn't work through. He'd had worst during the windy sandstorms on Tuchanka, but his visibility was definitely gone.

 

"Guys, I'm sorry but I'm walking blind here. Irina, you gotta keep an eye out with this one or..." He stopped when he heard another gunshot, then the sound of scraping metal as he deduced what it was quickly. "Alright ******, where the hell are you coming from..." He muttered to himself as he saw a flash of blue. Biotics, whether they were friendly or not he couldn't tell. But he could hear footsteps closing in.

 

He saw another flash of biotics, this one he recognized as a biotic charge. Vayne was on the move towards the area, knowing that it was either their own biotic, or an enemies, either way would give him so clarity in this fog.

[Redbelle]

Anika made a face that the respirator hid. "Commando leather's? I get you like speed and stealth Nal but I hit things until they stop working. I just happen to be exotic in how I break stuff. And when someone's trying to hit you back those leather's won't turn away the impact of a biotic explosion. My armor does. Trust me. I tested that here on the Citadel". Her voice took on a sly undertone. "Unless you just want to see me in leather on a daily basis.... You know, all you have to do is ask".

[TheMajonese]

Zakera Ward

 

Quinn heard the release of biotic energies behind her and did a quick step aside but she wasn't fast enough and the charge still hit her. Again, she almost lost her balance and had to do another sidestep. Then she spotted the spectre and the one-eyed krogan moving in on her position, so she didn't have much time. Aside from that, the smoke of the first shot in the street slowly began to disappear. The effect was great but it usually didn't last very long.

 

To not give away her position, she didn't run towards the asari behind her, instead she lept at her and when the second her footfall sounded, Quinn already grabbed the asari's neck.

 

For a moment, Jenus could see the mask that covered Quinn's face in front of her eyes. Several organic looking, white plates formed something that had the appearance of a demonic face with sharp fangs and red glowing eyes. On the forehead was a dark red, circular sign. The look of the mask somehow made the impression that the red colour was actually human blood and the white plates were bones...

 

The next second, the momentum of her leap carried Quinn forward, heavily knocking the asari back. She activated her omni-tool and fired an overload and the woman with the red hair, before she started another attempt to reach the C-Sec cars, this time she didn't move directly towards C-Sec but used other cars as cover. To avoid another biotic attack, Quinn carefully listened to anything that sounded like biotic energy behind her and held her sword ready to strike in case anyone tried to charge at her again.

[Kel Riever]

What would have normally been a quick recovery for Jenus was compromised by the hit, and the speed of the masked woman.  It wasn't like Jenus to admit to anything, not out loud, but when she felt her shoulders and back hit the street behind her, preceded by the image of the mask, she knew she was in for a hell of a fight.  And she was without her usual team, although she had the best on her side.  But void if Jenus was going to give up.  She wasn't going to until she found out what happened to Arian; the turian was part of the team, and Jenus would find him or die trying.

"Take her alive!" Jenus rasped with the injury to her throat and the wind knocked out of her.  "Knocked out, beaten senseless, doesn't matter, just take her alive!"

Jenus rolled.  She'd need a distraction.  The woman was prepared for multiple opponents, but there would be a point of overwhelm.  Mira did that, Iole did that.  She'd need someone else now, and as she rolled to her knees, she put away her Claymore.

Jenus wouldn't need any other weapon than herself.

[Redbelle]

Anika heard sounds of fighting from somewhere in the smoke and dropped to one knee as she checked her Omni tools connection to the interceptor. It was up and running, though still running in a mode that limited what she could see compared to the Interceptors readout. She wasted precious moments scanning through the information as it came in before managing to find a gathering of hot bodies not far from her. It sounded like the sounds were coming from that direction and tucking her head down, she half ran, half crouched to where the commotion and the Interceptor told her the problem was at.

 

Passing Naleena she grabbed her arm as she passed. "Stay with me. Smoke will have us seperating if we don't stay together".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena motioned to Anika where she was going. "Let's take her alive, but we need to herd her. I have her on thermal. I need to circle behind her."

 

She engaged her tactical cloak and the feet of the former assassin seemed to float on air as she picked her way around to a position behind Quinn. Quinn was in cover behind a car in the lot, but Naleena had her in plain view. Naleena loaded a round in the chamber on her SIG. Quinn was startled and turned to see the Asari Spectre having emerged from her tactical cloak standing about 5 meters from her, barrier up and thermal shutdown, with her pistol aimed and o-wakizashi drawn in her left hand hanging at her side, smiling.

 

"Don't even think about it. I will fire," Naleena said.

 

****

 

Irina

 

Feeling a mild sting from the overload, Irina swore and stayed low following Jenus, backing her up with her shotgun just in case.

[Redbelle]

Anika remained crouched as she moved. Her eye's couldn't make out the figure through the smoke but the thermograph was pointed and figure wasn't moving.

 

Staying low, Anika waited. If her team had found the assailant then another gun pointing at the figure wouldn't help any. Instead she coiled herself into a spring waiting to be sprung in case event's took a turn for the worse.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne could barely see now, which was a marked improvement as he manged to navigate through the slowly clearing area. Hearing the boss however, vayne let out a sigh. She had thermal, so at least she could see.

 

He decided that, given his lack of sight, he'd go for the next best option. He took off on as soft a run as possible, passing a few objects he could only guess as cars as he got towards the edges of the fog. Visibility was much clearer here, and he turned around as he activated his omnitool, flamer ready for use.

 

"Alright then...you try and break through this fog...and we'll see how far you get..." He muttered to himself as he walked with the dissappating smoke closer and closer into the edges of the area. Using this oppurtunity to act as a possible cut off of a potential escape route.

[TheMajonese]

Taking a stop behind a car to reload her rifle with the last explosive projectile was a mistake. Through her thermal sight she saw the spectre moving directly toward her and then she heard the sound of a tactical cloak. How can she see me?, Quinn wondered but then she realized that her thermal cloak was gone. What the...?! The biotic charge! It somehow must have damaged the cloaking device. Only her sword remained invisible on the thermal sight because it used its own energy core but her armor and therefore her whole body was now completely visible. Unreliable bullsh*t..., she thought and rolled her eyes. Now she had to improvise.

 

Quinn slowly placed the rifle on the ground and raised her arms, her right hand was close to the sword's handle. Shouldn't she just take me out first?

 

Moving was much easier now that she got rid of her rifle. She just dropped to the ground and rolled forward, using the momentum to draw her sword and wield it over her head. It was close, much closer than she liked. The tip of her weapon hit the pistol the spectre was pointing in her direction and knocked it out of her hand.

 

And again, Quinn used her charge to immediately start another attack. Her next overhead strike forced the spectre to dodge which gave Quinn the precious seconds she needed to slide over the next skycar and use it as cover while continuing her way to the C-Sec cars.

 

One of them, a fast interceptor, already had its canopy opened and she didn't need to do much more than to sprint towards and climb into it. Crap... When she placed her sword on the passenger seat, she noticed that the power rifle was lost now. It wasn't much of a problem for her but she already knew someone who would be quite pissed when she returned without this unique prototype.

 

She started the engine and through the dissipating smoke Quinn spotted the remains of her own car. At least something that went as planned...But I guess he will never thank me that I just pulled his ass out of C-Sec's tracing.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus heard the trouble and she sprinted in its direction, decades of pure athleticism driving every motion.

She couldn't see, not really, but she could sense, and if the shape was big enough, it wasn't too hard. 

It was Vayne's back Jenus saw come out of the slowly dissipating smoke and she mentally apologized to him, and hope he didn't kill her while she performed her feat.  Jenus sprang skywards and used Vayne like a vault, shooting even further upwards as her feet went up and over her head.  There was a clearance in the smoke as she forward flipped around, since it didn't disperse evenly, and she saw the masked woman get into a car.  Too far, Jenus thought in a split second, then spotted Anika, nearest to the car. 

Was that giant woman good at what she did?  Yes.  Really good?  Yes.  Really, really good, as in trained with Commandos good?

Well, she said she was.  So....

Jenus, unable to target her biotic charge at the car, chose to target Anika to cross the distance.  She barely had any energy for impact, having had it drained.  Jenus really had the minimum power to get herself across the space.  Still, it wouldn't tickle, not for either of them.  And Anika was built like a fortress.  Wonder how that's going to feel...

Crying out in her expenditure of energy, Jenus charged from mid-air and crossed the space to Anika in an instant, staggering them both from the blow.  Jenus hoped that Anika would be stopped by the mass of an asari smaller than her like Jenus, mentally apologized while she hoped, and then winced as she felt Anika through her Commando leathers.  The skycar was already in motion, and Jenus used her stagger to catch her fall in a particular way, and sprinted after it.

"Come back here with Arian!"  Jenus shouted.  Her voice pierced through the body of the sky car.  It was much more emphatic than she imagined it would be.  Even though there was no chance to catch the car, Jenus kept running after it, and wouldn't stop until she caught it miraculously or it was out of sight.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena saw there was no chance of catching her now. She bent over and picked up her pistol, holstered it, and walked over to Anika. She had a don't say a word look on her face as she approach. She knew she screwed up. She should have used a stasis instead of treating this woman as a normal street thug. The woman had bested three squad cars of C-sec officers and most of her team.

 

Have I lost a step? she thought. This is twice in the last month. I should have been ready for that.
 

[Redbelle]

Anika, thrown off balance by Jenus as she charged into her, tried to twist to deflect the blow that her armoured vest managed to absorb to a degree. The rest of the force Anika felt and she grit her teeth, to busy to wonder what had gotten into Jenus when Jenus pushed her and in the space Anika vacated, sped off in the direction of the interceptor.

 

Naleena approached as Anika recovered and stared up at the fleeing..... Awww hell.

 

"B*tch stole our ride". She said as an aside to Naleena. Her hand went up and the Typhoon's grip thudded into her palm as the weapon cleared her back and Anika brought the rifle up and into the firing position as she sighted down the scope. "I hope you have insurance". She said as she aimed for the engine housing.

 

Anika depressed the trigger and like a giant clearing it's throat, the gun coughed up several rounds before finding it's pace and started spitting bullet's into the vehicle both she and Naleena had rode in on.

 

The first few shots Anika could see landed  but as the Interceptor opened the distance the Typhoon's accuracy dropped and Anika released the trigger. Letting the weapon down to hang in one hand Anika looked over and noticed Naleena's sheepish and defiant expression.

 

"I wasn't going to say a word..... Well.... Maybe.... just one or two....". Turning to Naleena, Anika stepped past her and whispered. "It's hot when you showoff....". Anika then kept going and looked up at the buildings. "So what now? I think she came from one of these places.... Search for Arian? Do you think he's in there somewhere"?

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"I should have been ready for that, Anika. I've gotten soft," Naleena replied. "I've lost a step. It's this job. I'd dance to stay in shape between jobs, but now it's nothing but a mountain of reports. I need to hire a trainer and get back in fighting shape," she gave Anika a sheepish look.

 

"Come on. You're right. Arian has to be in one of these buildings," she continued and then got on her communicator to her team and C-sec. "Alright everyone, the show's over. Continue the search for the Turian."
 

The fire department arrived on the scene to extinguish the burning car.