[Citadel - Wards] Fresh Blood, Old Friends

"Well, I have an idea, but I don't know a whole lot about tech so I'm not sure if it will work."

The responses Ethan received ranged from Michelle's quizzical glance to Snow's guttural growl.

"They have to have some sort of warehouse where they are based in right? If someone can hack or jam the doors that lead into there that should hold them until C-Sec arrives right?

If we can't pull that off, we could always take a few forklifts, pick up the largest crates we can find, and park them in the doors. That probably won't keep them locked in by themselves but if we disable the power to the forklifts then we could stand guard at the exit and smack anyone who tries to squeeze through. Just an idea, I am open to anyone else's idea if you have them."

"Ok I like it, it's a start, but obviously that will take a while. How do we keep them occupied, and all in the warehouse, for it to work?"

"That's a good idea Ethan, anyone know a hacker who's up for the job? I'm rubbish when it comes to electronics."

He looked over his shoulder, "speaking of which, we better move on, if they still run ship here, like they did in the terminus, then them not reporting in soon will cause all kind of flags popping up, making our job more difficult."

"Hmmm, I guess these acts of vandalism are up to me then", Snow observing with the air of a man resigned for the duration. "Mind giving me the coordinates for the warehouse turncoat", the red hood answering Shank as he brought up his maintenance software, prepping it for the sync program when it was time to take control of warehouse's maintenance functions. Turning back to Torr, Snow decided to get things moving on this end, "Torr, I'll need you to get most of your pack out of here, take 'em towards the cathedral, but keep your best back to corroborate what happened here. After that, get your ass to Father Matembo and let him know what happened." "Anything else furhead?" The turian boy replying with a sullen air, but not arguing with the red hood despite his desire to fight, "yeah, keep your head down until the dust clears, you lot have had the devil's own day here, best to just rest up kid."

"Well, no time like the present," turning back to the other three, Snow's attitude all business as he held his red coat casually under his arm, the knife pommel creeping out as he walked over to Ethan and Miss Whiskers.

"I'll go with you", Michelle told Snow. She turned to Shank and Ethan. "You gentleman get the fun part : Keep the gangers in the damn warehouse while we work some magic. I strongly recommend coming up with a plan to do that."

"Don't worry about us," Shank said, "we'll figure out something when we get there. Hey stricture," he turned towards Snow, "they're right here," and showed the exact coordinates, making sure Stone could see only his screen for a few seconds.

"Write them down, 'cause I know you lot tend to forget. Anyway Ethan I'm ready to go." In truth he wondered how long it would take Snow to notice his knife was missing.

"Best if we get going then", Snow replying absently to the drell, his focus on the scematic and coordinates that the arrogant drell gave him so intense that he didn't even feel the theft take place. Turning back to Miss Rondor and Ethan, the red hood handing her his coat as he bade the quiet human farewell. The mismatched duo finally makingtheir way back onto the main street. Nearing the elevator leading to the lower levels of Tayseri, the fluffy do-gooder and taciturn brawler walked in silence, the weight of previous events almost preventing Snow from even saying the usual banalities to Miss Rondor as he called up the elevator.

"One more week", Snow thinking as the elevator finally arrived, letting Miss Whiskers enter first, checking the area to make sure they weren't followed. "So far so good boss, no one but the rats we know have tagged us going down. Hope our luck holds." Snow's almost emotionless demeanor towards Miss Rondor the norm since the docks, it was as if he was asking her about the weather within the citadel. The new tattoos on the red hood's shoulders jumping out under the light, a contrast on his pale skin. Snow's choice an ancient human tribal design, a raven on his right, a wolf on the left as waited for the elevator to drop them off.


Exiting the elevator, Snow walking out first to check to see if they were made, seeing a duct rat he recognized from the cathedral, except instead of just nodding in acknowledgment, the kid made for an extranet terminal. "Shit," Snow thinking as he broke into a sprint despite the pain in his side, leaping over crates and refuse to catch the kid, a second after the duct rat sent the message. Grabbing the kid by the collar, Snow dragged the little bastard over to Miss Rondor. "Well boss, if the LTE didn't know we were coming, they do now." Letting the rat go, Snow motioned for his coat so he could retrieve his blade...only to realise it was gone.

Snow patting himself for his weapon and coming up empty wasn't lost on Michelle.
"Well it's getting more and more fun."
She turned to the kid and glowered at him.
"We had a deal with your crew kid. So should people now that your pack can't hold up their end?"
"Sorry miss Whiskers", answered the young turian, half contrite and half defiant, "but the LTEs would have known you guys had been around sooner or later. It was a dumbfuck deal to make."
Michelle didn't pursue, and got pensive.
"What's done is done anyway... Ok, who did you contact?"
"Branus", the kid simply answered.
Michelle and Snow's eyes widened. Branus was a krogan ganger.
The LTD president suddenly got very pale. "Ok... That's bad... BUT it's also good! Some kids told me about him, he's not even close to a team player, he probably kept the information to himself to get the bounty! So we'll only have to deal with him."
She got silent for a second.
"Ho gods we'll have to fight a krogan..."

Ethan and Shank crept through the winding streets of a forgotten part of the Citadel. This part of the wards still had some scars of the Reapers, lights flicked and the vents blew out a dusty, dead air. After the two men passed the safety warnings, the streets were eerily quiet, save for the skittering of a few keepers.

They entered the damaged shopping that was just next to the coordinates. It was a huge two level sprawl that had a large, broken fountain in the middle, overlooked by the bent guardrails of the second floor. The roof of the complex hung low, bent by a large debris.

"Is this the place?."

Shank nodded. "It is in the back of the mall, we have to make sure that they can't squeeze out through here first."

"Right, good thinking on your part." Ethan turned and muttered under his breath "As always."

They pulled open a service door and peeked inside. They walked down the large hallway that had a door at the end on the left side that entered the warehouse. Ethan approached the door and carefully pressed his ear to the gap in the metal.

"You blew a another fuse? These things are a pain in the ass to get." a turain voice shouted.

"These Omni tools are not designed to work with the metals necessary to make crucial gun parts. I have been forced to push these microfacturers past their limits." replied a quarian.

"Kani'Ruun, I fucking swear, if you keep breaking our shit, I'll break you!"

Ethan turned to Shank, "Yeah, seems like this is the place. Come on, I have an idea."

Ethan and Shank quietly ran back to the broken statue. "I think I can jam the door with this." It was a large, marble figure of an asari in a robe, toppled over with the arms snapped off. The remaining torso was about 8 feet long and roughly 4 feet wide. "This will do great."

Ethan stomped on the head until the cracks around the neck tore open and fell off. Ethan then took a deep breath, and focused his biotics. The marble shivered and than floated a few inches off the floor. A minute later, Ethan had floated the marble down the hallway, the argument inside apparently had escalated into a fist fight, which Ethan was thankful for. He then tilted the statue up and jammed it in the little recess that preceded the door. the marble managed to reach opposite corners before getting firmly stuck.

"That should hold them, for awhile anyways." Ethan said in between heavy breaths. He wiped the sweat from his brow. "Now for the front door, after you."

"On it." The drell said, halfway towards the front door he nodded towards the side, "stay in the shadow," he whispered, "I'm going to do some recon."

He climbed on some debris and seemed to vanish into the shadows, only to reappear scant minutes later.
"Okay they've got a guard there, a human, I don't know him." He looks over his shoulder, "I could take him down but we should have a plan to close the door fast, just in case they hear us. Any bright ideas?"

"So your solution was to rat us out to the same crew that's been slapping you around?" Snow hissing at the turian duct rat, but his anger was directed at the drell piece of shit who stole his blade. "I swear to god Shank, I'll drink your goddamned blood for this," the red hood thinking as he motioned to Miss Whiskers towards the warehouse. A krogan was coming and the only saving grace was that he was alone. Nearing the entrance, Snow pulled on his coat as he jimmied the door open with his omnitool. Letting Miss Rondor through, Snow grabbed the duct rat by his collar, he had a different task for him.

"You, are going to get in contact with the krogan you snitched to, let him know exactly where I'm at. And then you'll make a break for St John Paul's cathedral. Get out of here." Tossing the duct rat aside, Snow closed the door behind him and activated the lock, hoping to buy some time to prepare, his grey eyes returning to his usual 1000 yard stare as he made a scan of the area, looking for anything to use. "Well boss, I see machinery and a lot of abandoned gear, let's prep the battlefield." Snow finding a terminal and started the malware upload, eyes on the entrance as he turned control over to Miss Rondor.

The next fifteen minutes were very busy, with Michelle and Snow identifying several traps they could set for the krogan, blocking the entrances to their position save for one. And of course preparing a crane to quickly block the exits in the gangers' warehouse as soon as Ethan and Shanks would make sure the gangers were all inside the warehouse and other exists were sealed. That was, after all, why they were here in the first place.
After that frantic activity they found themselves with nothing to do but wait for their allies to give them the signal, and a sentient dinosaur to come and try to rob them of their spines.

Michelle leaned on a wall near Snow.

"Those are new tatoos aren't they?" she asked.

"No boss, I got them slightly used at a Zakera thrift shop." Not even looking at Miss Rondor, the red hood pulling on his gloves in anticipation of the grackle tooth. His sarcastic non answer to the question making clear his view towards the fluffy do-gooder's attempt at small talk. Though her question did make Snow think about the why. When a marine, he had wanted to get some inkwork, the Haida art seemed better than the generic tribal bullshit. As for the wolf and raven, it served as an adomition. It served to remind Snow that he wasn't a part of society anymore along with everything he lost during the war.

"The ink is a...reminder boss, of why I do what I do, and why you've kept me on. Lost dreams, dead friends and family, it's all etched on me. If you know what you're looking at," the red hood elaborating slightly, his low voice and dissonant air contrasting with the growing tension as the duo waited for the hunter to arrive. Snow glancing down at the floor, still feeling the fluffy snake's eyes on him as he picked up a length of pipe. Turning to face Miss Rondor, Snow gave her a look exasperation as he went back to the wall.

"I just don't see why you'd start giving a fuck now boss. I do my job, what I do on my own time is my own damn business."

Michelle rolled her eyes at Snow's snark, but was sincerely surprised at the last sentence.

"What? Where does that come from? I know we're not best buds but I thought we had an unspoken, incredibly subtle understanding. What's eating you?"

"Really, and I thought the understanding was clear." The red hood's voice remaining dissonant as he turned to face Miss Whiskers. "I set up your security and take out the garbage for the princely sum of 1100 credits a month for the remainder of my sentence. Last I checked, the terms didn't include being friends."

Snow didn't vocalise the other reason why he kept his distance, Miss Rondor had sent him up the river at the docks. The red hood expected that behavior from the Alliance or any other gov't organization, just not from her. A brief moment of weakness on Snow's part, believing that he could trust anyone after Benning. The look of askance sent the chubby woman's way was enough to reveal that sentiment.

"No, boss. What you're after is trust. And I have none to give, least of all to you."

Michelle looked at Snow in the eyes and saw how much he resented her. She was becoming quite angry herself.

"Hey! For the record I didn't have to pay you jack shit for your community service! The Alliance was actually surprised I made you a descent contract, and you had benefits and stuff... And no, "the terms didn't include being friends", but I didn't think it would hurt! Bordel, Julian, what did I ever do to you? I tried to be supportive! And we've been through so much! We fought gangers together, we'll even fight a Krogan later for-"

"Speaking of which!", interrupted a pleasant but booming voice at the entrance of the warehouse wing. Michelle and Snow's eyes widened. The krogan ganger came in with a typical Lower Tayseri Elite cheap suit. He didn't even have weapons, other than the deadly krogan physique.

"So here is how this is going to work", he announced jovially. "Miss Rondor, I will crush you as fast as I can. Mr Red Hood, you are worth money, so I will not crush you as much. The bounty however is rather unspecific regarding how many bones must be left unbroken in your body, so I may find myself improvising on this."

With another grin the formidable alien started walking toward the two humans at a leisurely pace.

Michelle turned her eyes back to Snow.

"We'll discuss this at her later date!"

She hit a few strokes on her omni-tool. Two LOKI mechs flared to life on top of huge containers on each side of the krogan. "Excuse me!" said both machines as they jumped him. He barely budged under their tackles but groaned as they wouldn't let go of him. After a few seconds of frustrating grapple, he propelled himself against one of the containers, crushing one of the mechs on his back, and managed to seize the second one's head and tear it away.
He emitted a satisfied grunt until the head blew up in his face.
It didn't do much damage, but it blinded him for a few seconds. When he opened his eyes again, Michelle and Snow were nowhere to be seen anymore.
Most of the lights in the warehouse then went out, putting the combatants in almost complete darkness...

When the LOKI's dropped, Snow made his way towards the next attraction in the makeshift funhouse, Moving in between shipping containers, Miss Rondor's words were burning in his mind all the while. The red hood not even bothering with noise discipline as he moved behind the krogan. Clearing his throat, the red hood stepped into view, the dim lighting making the warehouse seem more confined than before. Hefting the length of pipe in his right, Snow's left hand lowering the hood to allow for better vision along the edges as he baited the LTE hitter.

"Alright shitbag, here I am, nowhere for either of us to run grackle tooth", the taunts coming naturally despite the adrenaline pumping through Snow, his body posture relaxed, and behind the pepper spray as he finished. "So what the fuck are you waiting for...come and get paid."

The LTE hitter snarling in fury, that this paleskinned fleshbag had the gall to challenge him???? Shifting slightly, the krogan charged at the red hood, only for Snow to triangle jump onto the crate to his left and on top of the one to his right. Turning to his right, the grackle tooth snarling in frustration as he moved forward, his ankle hitting a tripwire, resulting in Miss Rondor's spray can going off at eye level, the noxious spray hitting the krogan full force. The gangster's roar filling the warehouse, Snow dropped down from his perch, lead pipe in hand in a downward swing aimed at the grackle tooth's shoulder.

Hidden behind one of the many huge containers of the warehouse, Michelle activated her omni-tool and contacted Ethan.

"Guys! We are in HOT waters here, I hope you're almost done. We have one button to push to block the main entrance of the warehouse, just give us the signal. Thanks."

She took a huge breath and climbed a ladder next to her and got herself on top of the container promptly. Shaart's draconian marathon training had done her some good at least. She ran toward Snow and the Krogan.

She could see Julian below her beating the krogan like a pinata with his steel pipe. A human would already be reduced to a smudge on the floor at that point, but the LTE enforced was roaring, flaying around half blind, trying to get a good grip on his opponent.

Michelle crouched, grabbed the beam fastener she had found among various power tools and clipped to her belt, and aimed.
Snow had been very reticent about that part of the plan, considering Michelle's abysmal aim. "Fortunately" her target was large even by krogan standards, and Snow's beating prevented him from moving much.

Death of a thousand cuts, coming up!

She gripped the trigger. The beam fastener started shooting a spray of molten metal with pneumatic sounds.

"WHAT THE FUCK???" roared the krogan as a dozen burning needles embedded themselves in his hide, drawing orange blood. As planned Snow took advantage of the krogan's distraction to land a devastating blow... that his adversary caught one handed, mid stride.
With a grunt of satisfaction he tore the pipe out of Snow's hands and threw it away with impressive force.
"I AM DONE PLAYING!", he screamed while slamming himself on Michelle's container with such force that she dropped her power tool and fell from it, crashing painfully on the ground.

She got herself on her feet with a groan, spitting some blood that her open lip was dripping, and started running into the maze of crates before the krogan could reach her.

Now would be a great time boys!

A few tense minutes passed as Snow and Michelle moved the crane overhead. When it was in position, Ethan turned and said "Alright, Shank, you go take out the guard, i'll hang by the gate and hold the line if I need too."

A just as Shank slinked out of sight, Michelle voice buzzed through Ethan's omni-tool "Guys! We are in HOT waters here, I hope you're almost done. We have one button to push to block the main entrance of the warehouse, just give us the signal. Thanks."

Ethan paused briefly before answering,"Seal it off."
The crane promptly dropped it's load with a loud click and the container crashed down in the entrance. The noise startled the guard, who turned around in surprise only to catch Shank's fist.

Ethan ran up to Shank and the unconscious ganger and said "Keep an eye on him and the entrance, Snow and Michelle need help."

Ethan ran off to the darkened warehouse, with crackling sparks from his baton leading the way.