"That was more than a short delay, hopefully Yarsin is still willing to meet us." Micheal said as he started walking toward the meeting place. The red sand shipment was delayed, twice. Although he wanted to burn down the ship and make sure the red sand runners never saw the light of day again, he needed them for transportation. Not to mention he didn't want to burn any bridges, especially against Aria and his two teammates. The Client told us that he'd reached out to other candidates and that they would meet them at Illium. "Again, a very resourceful motherfucker." Alexa and Kali were walking beside him, "The others should be at the meeting place by now, let's greet them." he heard three people arguing and assumed they were the backup. "Dear god....."

The mercs that the Client hired were.... different. A shy turian who stutters, a bloodthirsty krogan, and a confused quarian, but then again he did hire him, Kali and Alexa.
"Hello, I'm guessing you three are the others the Client hired? We're the original three that were invited, I'm assuming he didn't tell you anything, he sure didn't tell us anything." He's never seen any of these people before, but then again, neither Kali nor Alexa had ever heard of him before. He decided to wait for their responses before talking again.

Kerr'Shal scratched the top of his mask in confusion, looking from one stranger to another. The human woman looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't quite place her. Just what the hell was going on here?

"I am beginning to think that, yes, this is some kind of a joke," he said to the krogan. A few swift taps on his omni-tool brought up his primary bank account. The number was unchanged; the enormous advance he'd received was still there. Unless he'd been hacked somehow, of course..... Kerr'Shal brought up the Armax Arsenal online store and ordered a few thermal clips for delivery. The transaction went through without a hitch; no warning that his account had been compromised, or that he didn't have sufficient funds for the purchase. The numbers on his account changed in accordance with the purchase. Everything checked out.

"Well if it is a joke, I really do not see where the punch line is," Kerr'Shal said, looking up from his omni-tool. He was still quite confused, but as long as that was real money in his account he wasn't going to walk away. "I am Kerr'Shal nar Lysin. And the rest of you are?"

Alexa was almost in shock by the sight of the three new mercs. The krogan looked like the real deal, but most krogan did. The quarian looked about as dangerous as Michael - which was not very dangerous at all - but she'd give him the benefit of the doubt as well. The turian however... she looked like she was fresh off the streets. Again, Alexa would have to give her the benefit of the doubt, but still...

"This is a shitty joke. Is the Client's goal to get us to kill each other before we actually get anything done?" Alexa smirked. Actually, now that she thought about it, that didn't seem like too bad of a plan. It was a costly plan, but it actually had a chance of working. She set that thought aside for another time when she'd need some enemies killed quickly. "My name is Alexa Pearce. You might know me as Aria's top enforcer. Or Aria's Fist, if you're feeling dramatic," Alexa added, subconsciously reusing Aria's favorite line when introducing herself to newcomers on Omega. After spending years at her side, it wasn't much of a surprise that Alexa had picked up a few things from Aria.

"Look, I already pulled the whole 'testing your worth' bullshit with Michael here. I'm not about to do that with three more of you fucks - though, granted, the krogan looks like he could probably take care of himself," Alexa tilted her head slightly towards the krogan. Something she had noticed in Kali was that the asari knew when to get on someone's good side. It had taken her a while, but Alexa eventually realized that that was what Kali had been doing with her for the past day. It had worked, so Alexa figured she'd try to pull the same trick, as well.

"So let's get this out of the way now; for some reason, somebody brought us all together so we could play nice. Us three decided yesterday that we'd wait to kill each other until after we finish whatever we have to do. So you three are gonna get on board with that quick or we're gonna have a problem. Any questions?"

Raze turned at the sound of newcomers, so slow you coulda called the movement ponderous. That was just one of the little tricks he'd learnt over the years. Folks liked to think of the Krogan as big, tough, slow, vicious and stupid, so he played up to those preconceptions, giving the people what they wanted until it came to crunch time when he revealed the whole thing was just an act. Well, except the parts about being vicious and tough, he had those aplenty.

Two humans and an Asari waltzed into view. The Asari he recognised outright, but then most people of his age in this business probably would. He'd been running in the same circles as Kali for a couple centuries now. Never worked with her, but he had heard good things. Thank fuck for that, cause the rest of these meat-puppets were virtual unknowns to him, cept the female human who sparked some sorta recollection, but he couldn't put his finger on from where.

The Quarian asked who they all were, calling himself Kerr'Shal nar Lysin. The name rang a bell for Raze, but just a small one. Something about a pirate killer, but it was deep in the recesses of his memory. If you weren't a top class merc then chances are Raze wasn't gonna bother remembering everything about you. He'd seen too many second class mercs go back to the dirt in his time to care too much about them.

The first of their motley crew to answer the Quarian was the female human, revealing, rather robotically, that she was Alexa Pearce, Aria's Fist. Now SHE was top class, but then that was no surprise, Aria always did like to surround herself with the best. Probably why he'd gone so far in her operation. The Fist had an ego to match her reputation though, probably deserved but no less annoying for it. She even tried to butter up to him by saying he looked he was capable, followed in short order by a threat for compliance. Raze had never been to comfortable with compliments, probably never got enough of them growing up to grow accustomed to them. Threats though, he knew threats. Made more than a few himself in his time. Didn't matter how many he ever received though, they never stopped getting on his nerves.

"If I decided I didn't want to get on board you'd have a big problem girly. So change your tone or I'll change it for you." His voice was a deep rumble, steady and calm as Krogan can sound. Conversational really. He never made a move, his hands didn't edge towards his guns, nor did his form begin to shimmer with biotic energy. He wasn't making a threat, he was just setting some ground rules.

After all, if they were gonna be working together then she might as well learn to be polite.

Kerr'Shal raised an eyebrow at this.

"Kill each other? Why would we do that? I do not even know who you people are. Well, except for you. 'Aria's Fist,' is it? I knew you looked familiar."

He dismissed the comments about killing each other, if this woman was really who she said she was, it was probably part of her job to come off as a bit crazy and threaten people indiscriminately. Maintaining the organization's reputation, and all that. If Aria T'Loak had sent such a trusted associate to assist in this job, it was something even bigger than Kerr'Shal had originally thought. Intriguing.

"So long as you exclude me from the part where we all kill each other after the job is done, of course I am on board. As for questions, I have two. One, was this Client kind enough to inform you of what exactly we are going to be doing for him? Two, do you have a real name, or am I expected to address you as 'Aria's Fist?'" he asked Alexa.

Kali arched a brow at the three new team members. The Krogan was the obvious heavy-hitter, someone who was accustomed to the underworld. He would do just fine. To most he would seem like a common bruiser but Kali thought there was more to him than meets the eye. As for the Quarian, Kali sensed a quiet tension beneath that suit in the way that he held himself. He was more dangerous than he seemed and Kali resolved not to underestimate him. And the turian... the turian was obviously out of her element. Someone who was used to working behind the scenes, not on the front lines. But she could still prove useful, Kali decided she'd need to have talks with all of them.

The Huntress chuckled, "That could be it, but at the very least he'd want us to finish the job first." Kali smiled at the trio, meeting their gaze- or the quarian's visor- for several seconds each and inclined her head politely. Kali spoke up, "I am Dorea Y'varti. But my working name is Kali, the Huntress." She tilted her head and grinned at the quarian, "Ah. I've heard of you Kerr'Shal. You have a reputation for courage and deadliness." He was more than he seemed, to the Krogan Kali smiled again, "And I believe you must be Urdnot Raze. You've been at the game even longer than I have, it's an honor to work with you." She smiled quite sincerely, it was always nice to have a heavy hitter on your side, and among people like Kali and Raze there was a certain amount of professional respect one must display. Kali appraised the turian again, "As for you, I'd like your own introduction."

Kali's eyes gleamed as she laughed melodically again, "Believe me this is Alexa when she's being polite. But I do agree she could do with putting more effort into it." Kali's tone took on that of a weary but entertained companion as she patted Alexa's shoulder, "She's not used to being nice. But believe me when I say I don't desire conflict with any one of you. If you take care of us, we take care of you. It works out better for everyone that way. We're all looking to get paid here, might as well be as professional as we can." Kali didn't add her belief that Raze would probably kill Alexa which wasn't a nice proposition for Kali.

Hopefully Kali's reputation and her support of Alexa would placate Raze, "The Client's job is one of a personal vendetta really. He's hired us to take out four crime bosses henceforth to be named the Puppetmasters. Each of them have deep pockets and vast networks with armies at our disposal. We're to take apart their organizations and kill them. No sunday drive, but that's what the hefty sum is for. We're about to meet with an informant connected to them and we've come up with a plan for the meeting, the three of you will be a huge boon."

Arlius stared at the newcomers for a few minutes, letting each speak. She recognized Aria's Fist, she had conducted quite a bit of business with Aria. Although she had only met with Aria once and she probably wouldn't even remember her. Arlius was never a fan of humans, they wanted so much so fast and she just found it annoying. Arlius stepped back a bit as the asari addressed her. She always had admired the asari, they were older than turians and way more graceful. That's why turians don't have a good reputation for their dancing skills.

"I... I'm Arlius... I'm an engineer of advanced weaponry... And... Well... A hacker.. A good one..." she said trying her best to keep herself together. Arlius knew that she was the least experienced on the battlefield out of all of them. But she wasn't afraid to kill every single one of them if they got in the way of her credits. She wasn't known for having any morals especially when credits are involved. Which is the reason she stole so much money as a teenager, if she felt she deserved it and the people who had it didn't. Arlius felt no remorse or pitty for doing so.

To his relief, Kerr'Shal's mask hid his surprise when Kali addressed him. He had heard of the Huntress; working as a mercenary, it was pretty impossible not to. He just hadn't realized this was her, having never seen her in person before (so far as he knew). The fact that she knew of him was almost as surprising as her presence here. The quarian turned and listened as Arlius spoke up.

"A hacker? That explains your purpose, then. Your skills will no doubt be indispensable," he said. While the rest of the group could probably blast, shoot and stab with the best of them, none of that would be any use when they needed to extract files from a terminal--which they would almost certainly have to do at some point, if the word "puppetmasters" was really all the information they'd been given. This was by far the most extreme job Kerr'Shal had ever been offered. He was used to fighting off isolated bands of pirates and other thugs, not taking down entire criminal syndicates. Rather than let the scale of the task daunt him, however, Kerr'Shal was simply excited. No matter how things turned out, with such large personalities around, this was bound to get interesting.

"Shall we be on our way, then?"

Alexa grinned at the krogan. Kali had said he was Urdnot Raze; if that was true then he was definitely not someone to fuck with. Alexa had heard enough stories about Raze from Afterlife to know better than to find her way to his bad side. Regardless, he seemed like a no nonsense kind of guy; exactly the kind of guy Alexa could work with. She nodded in response to Raze's monotonous threat, replying simply, "Understood."

To her astonishment, Alexa found herself calmed slightly by Kali's hand on her shoulder. Her body loosened up slightly, and Alexa actually found herself relaxing. Bullshit, Alexa thought, eyeing Kali out of the corner of her eye. Whether Alexa liked it or not, she did have a heightened level of respect for the asari, and it was manifesting itself in perhaps the most uncomfortable way it could for Alexa. Dammit. This was going to be a problem. Alexa didn't like the idea of friends. Or the idea that maybe, just maybe, she saw some sort of screwed up mother figure in Kali. Alexa sidelined the thought, for the time being. She could self-analyze later; for now there were better things to worry about.

Alexa turned to the turian next. Arlius. The girl looked like she was just about ready to fall apart on them. Alexa sighed; every one of them was there for a reason, but it would've been nice if they all at least had a little more composure. "Stay out of the line of fire. You pack some serious firepower there, but I'm willing to bet you barely know what you're doing with it." Alexa considered Arlius' skillset. She had always had a small level of respect for people with strong tech expertise; they did something that she couldn't, and Alexa had to respect that. "You do what you do best and you stay alive doing it. Everyone's happier that way."

Finally, Alexa addressed the quarian, Kerr'Shal. She didn't know him either, but he cut out the bullshit like Raze, and Alexa liked that. "It'd be great if we could get going, but we don't even have a solid plan yet." Alexa paused. The new kids had no idea what they were planning for, did they?

"We're meeting a salarian named Yarsin Pizora. Michael here picked out his name from a list of the Puppetmasters' contacts. Before you three showed up, our plan was that Michael and I would meet with him while Kali waited for things to go to shit. We're expecting an ambush," Alexa paused, allowing the information to sink in. "Now that you three are here, an ambush shouldn't be worth shit against us." Alexa glanced at everyone in their "team." She used that term loosely; every one of them was on edge. Except for Kali. Kali never really seemed to give a shit about anything.

"I'm thinking we don't change the plan much. We don't want to scare Pizora off, so Michael and I will be the only ones to meet him. Everyone else can find somewhere to hide and watch our backs if this meeting gets too hot." It seemed like the most reasonable plan. Of course, with this bunch, Alexa was already expecting some sort of rebuttal. "We don't take orders from you!" or "What makes you qualified to come up with plans, you human trash!" were common retorts. Alexa's all time favorite was from a batarian Aria had assigned to her for a job: "You are a blight! I take no orders from blights!" She really needed to get rid of that batarian extremist that was hanging around Afterlife all the time.

Kali noticed that when she put her hand on Alexa the tightly-wound mercenary seemed to relax a few degrees. This did not unduly surprise her but what did surprise was that she herself seemed to relax when she noticed Alexa was feeling calmer. Kali had always been good at making friends, but that was before all of them had died with her ship. She had got herself on Alexa's good side because it was beneficial to the mission and herself. And it was working on Alexa, but it was working on her too. She admitted she admired Alexa's straightforward approach in a way but she also knew that the enforcer's history and demeanor struck cords in the Huntress's heart. Yearnings to help the young woman. She was starting to care about Alexa, starting to feel camaraderie with her perhaps even some demented affection. It had been a while since her heart had been open like this. That confused the experienced mercenary somewhat and Kali tabled the thought for another time.

Kali nodded at Alexa's words and said, "We have the money to transfer to Pizora but there's no point in taking risks. If things go south, which they might then the objective is to extract Pizora and any intel he has so that we can interrogate him or examine the data later. This man is currently our only tangible lead on the Puppetmasters and we have to get this done right the first time. Kali examined their team and noted that they were mostly going through varying stages of excitement or nervousness. Arlius was mostly nervous but Kali got the sense of a deeply-embedded fortitude in the woman and from Kerr'Shal she sensed an easy confidence tempered by experience. As for herself this job was one of the more dangerous ones but she could handle it. Among them she was the one with the most leadership capability and as such she radiated an ambivalent certainty in their mission.

She thought Alexa's suggestion was sound and noted the woman had a strategic mind to her and wasn't just angry muscle, "Alexa has it down. She's an Adept and her potent abilities and Michael's fieldcraft should be enough to keep them alive through any ambush. Just the two of them won't intimidate Pizora into running off. I'll have scouted out the area already and if something goes down I'm prepared to wreak some havoc on them. Kerr'Shal and Arlius can provide support and suppressing fire along with me from their own positions though Arlius will be the one furthest removed from the action. Raze can get the drop on the enemy and bulldoze them with ease, with the four of us providing the distraction everyone should make it out ok. If nobody has nothing to add we can start moving now so we can set up before Michael meets the contact." Kali was one of the most experienced among them and she stood next to Alexa exuding subtle confidence and authority, hopefully quenching any potential rebuttal and communicating that Alexa's thoughts were sound.

Micheal thought this was getting nowhere, they needed to move fast before Yarsin gets fed up and leaves. "Alright, we have been discussing this long enough, follow me to the meeting point and I'll explain the plan in more detail there. Let's move out." Micheal gestured for the team to follow him, and moved to the rendevous point. It took them roughly 20 minutes to get to the meeting point as it was pretty close the warehouse they were previously at. Micheal looked around in full detail, not many places for people to hide and it was pretty cramped in space, it was a typical meeting square that nobody used anymore. Looking around, he saw that there was a couple of buildings surrounding the place but only a few with adequate rooftops and windows. He saw a nice place where the team can set up and move in if things went haywire. "Alright, the plan is simple, me and Alexa will go talk to Yarsin, You guys scatter yourselves upon that balcony there and get ready in case anything happens, understood? Okay, let's get into position." It looked like Kali, Alexa and me were trying to lead the team, that could get real bad if we start doing that seriously. But back to the task on hand.

WIth all or most of the team in position, Yarsin appeared into the square. He didn't see the rest of the team hiding and alternated staring at entrances. Only he and Alexa remained at the entrance, he turned to Alexa, "Alright, I want nothing of this intimidating, don't fuck with me attitude, when we go in, I'll do the talking. He is my contact after all, only start acting tough when I tell you to, not whenever the hell you feel like it. See that scrawny, gray salarian? That's him, now that that's out of the way, ready?" Micheal didn't know how Alexa was going respond, but one thing he was sure of now more than ever, this meeting was going fuck up.

Arlius sighed, she never thought a human would be telling her what to do. She pulled her pistol out as she climbed the stairs to the balcony. She had to give it to the human male, it was a good vantage point. Her pistol definitely had the firepower of a sniper but whether or not it had the aim was another story. Of course partly of aim included the users ability. Arlius always tested her guns in her own homemade firing range. Although a firing range is not a good judge of how a real firefight will end. Arlius had to admit she felt kind of useless, she didn't want to be protected. Arlius didnt want to be out of the line of fire, she knew how to use a gun. Maybe not as well as these other mercs but she had shot numerous guns.

Arlius reached for her bag to grab a scope but she quickly realized she didn't have her bag. She was not prepared to jump into a mission, she had not brought most of her building supplies. Arlius quietly groaned, she was going to need to get supplies one way or another. Arlius quickly peaked through a hole in the old balcony at the person they were meeting. She didn't even know his name because she was too busy thinking of other things. He was scrawny, he didn't look like a source for this so called puppet masters. Who were these puppet masters anyways? What do they do? Arlius knew she was going to do some serious digging soon.

Despite himself Raze was pleased to have been recognised. Mercenaries like him were egotistical at heart, all the ridiculous titles and names they gave themselves were proof of that. He was even more pleased that Alexa backed down so quickly. He hadn't looked forward to the prospect of explaining to Aria why he had been forced to break her pet. Though he didn't think it was merely his reputation that had cowed the Fist. No, something told him that Kali was one of the calming factors, judging by the two's stolen glances towards each other. That was interesting.

He gave all indications of ignoring Kerr'Shal and Arlius as Alexa explaned the plan, but was actually surreptiously studying his new teammates. Arlius he had heard of before, had even killed Blue Sun who had owned one of her pistols before. Had used it himself for a while, enjoying the level of carnage the small weapon could cause, but had ultimately lost it after that incident with the Thresher Maw. It was a shame really, maybe he'd ask her to make him another one someday.

After spending a bit more time thinking about it he realised he'd heard more about Kerr'Shal than he had originally thought, after all how many biotic Quarians was there in the universe? While not quite of the same level of infamy as Kali or Alexa the pilgrim had made quite a name for himself.

Raze heard they were getting ready to leave for the meeting place with Yarsin now. The plan was a sound one, sure and simple, just the way he liked them. While more capable of tactical thinking than most Krogan he still preferred to keep things as straightforward as possible, less to go wrong in that regard. His only problem was that the Asari and the two humans seemed to be jockeying for a leadership role. That was always a recipe for disaster, too many chefs ruin the broth, as humans say.

As they reached the meeting place Micheal pointed to an overlooking balcony, telling them they needed to conceal themselves as he and the Fist met with the contact. A low groan escaped the Krogan's lips. His race, despite their much vaunted fighting skills, were not known for their hiding ability. With a sigh he trudged up the steps behind the Turian. It took him a while to settle his big frame comfortably while also being hidden from view.

"If this goes south I'm going straight over this banister," he whispered to his 'allies'. "Cover me and I'll grab the pyjak Salarian. Try not to hit me with that cannon of yours Arlius, not sure even I could take to many hits from that."

"Alright, let's go. (Let's assume we have radio contact) Remember, don't move in unless I give you the all clear." Micheal started walking toward Yarsin, "Alright, let's see what this son-of-a-bitch knows." The salarian jumped at the sight of two strangers walking toward him, but instantly regained his cool. "Ahhh, Ghost. I see you're in need of my services. What would you like to know? I can tell you anything.... for the proper price of course. And I see you brought a friend, how interesting." Micheal sighed, "I want to know everything you know about the Puppetmasters." Yarsin visibly tensed, "That urban legend? Don't tell me you believe in that non sense." "Actually I do believe in it, and I would like for you to tell me everything you know about them." "Look, they are a urban legend, nothing but a myth. Normally I would just take the money and tell you some random shit. But this, I cannot just walk away from." Yarsin started getting a little more hectic and Micheal could sense Alexa's patience starting to dwindle. "My friend is tired starting to get tired of your bullshit and would like you to tell us what you know. We know about your ties to them." The salarian abandoned his act and became scared, he started talking in normal salarian fashion "Fucking look, if you continue this shit we all die, you and your friend. So bef-"

A bullet when straight through his head and he was instantly killed. Micheal's instincts kicked in and he acted quickly, "Alexa get down!" He tackled down Alexa and another shot barely missed her head and but still hit her shoulder. He instantly spun around and pulled out his sniper rifle while still on the ground. He aimed at the shooter's area, but he was gone. "Kali, this is Ghost, Yarsin's dead. Chase after the assailant, I've got Alexa. GO!" "Holy shit, this guy doesn't play, this wound looks nasty." Micheal brought out some medi-gel and applyed it to the wound. "This shouldn't help that much but it should keep you fine for a bit. We have to get to cover." Micheal brought Alexa under the balcony and behind a barrier. Micheal hoped this guy hasn't escaped yet.

Kali didn't argue with Michael but she resolved that she was going to have to put her foot down at one point. He was a comparable novice to her, as a former commando and mercenary captain she had the most experience leading a team. She wasn't going to be so crass and headbutt him like the Krogan did but she'd have to put him in his place sometime. Alexa also seemed to be jockeying for a leading role. Kali knew she was tough but she was naturally a second, one who carried out orders with ferocity. She wasn't leadership material.

She followed her teammates and observed them. Raze was obviously not used to being backup, and was itching for some action. Arlius looked a little nervous but she had an impressive weapon, Kali was sure she knew how to handle it. She didn't much like the positioning and grabbed the rooftop pulling herself up on top of the building to get the best vantage point possible. She drew her SMG and waited.

Kali watched Yarsin and he obviously seemed nervous and scared. She listened in over the comm and it seemed obvious that he was holding back. Kali kept her ears listening to the exchange but cast her eyes around the plaza. Michael started becoming more insistent as Yarsin started closing up. Kali saw the glint of the scope a second before the plaza rang out with the sound of a bullets. She saw Alexa go down and her mind became aflame. Kali fired off a few rounds from her SMG but the sniper had already rabbited. She heard Michael say she was fine and to pursue the assailant. She didn't bother answering. She yelled out to the team below her, "Secure the area!"

Yelling in beautiful rage she jumped in the air and biotically charged at the shooter's last known position. She became a comet of blue biotic fire as she sped towards where she last saw the sniper who dared shoot a teammate and possibly a friend. Kali flashed towards the spot and looked around gun in hand. She saw a black-armored figure running away and turning a corner, Kali charged again and ran after the figure, long and strong legs propelling her in her furious pursuit of the sniper.

It took just about all the restraint Alexa had to keep herself from using her biotics to toss the salarian around and beat whatever information he had out of him. When Yarsin had first arrived, Alexa had stayed several paces behind Michael to stay as inconspicuous as she could. But the longer the salarian stalled, the more impatient she grew; she slowly started taking threatening steps towards Michael and Yarsin, charging a biotic field in her hand as she did so.

But as the bullets started flying, Alexa couldn't help but notice that, had she stayed put, the line of sight would've been broken by a stack of crates and she might've dodged that bullet. She winced as Michael brought her down, bullets tearing through both Yarsin's head and her left shoulder almost simultaneously. Shit. She had been shot countless times before, but she'd never been pushed out of the way of one. Years of physical training prepared her for the pain of the bullet, but the added shock of being pulled to the ground by Michael stunned her for a good second. She took a moment to reorient herself, as Michael - or Ghost, as she figured she should call him at this point - called out to Kali.

As clarity returned to her, Alexa's mind began to race. She watched Kali charge towards the shooter's last known position, the voices of Aria and her Eclipse mentors from decades ago pounding her skull. Anyone that had had any say in her fucked up emotional development was now in her head, directing her on what to do next. Alexa shrugged off the wound and pushed Michael off of her. "I'm fine, and I know what I'm doing. You don't need to babysit me," Alexa almost spat at Michael, charging up a barrier around her to fend off any more attacks. That bullet had ripped through her shields and gone straight through her shoulder. Michael's medi-gel application would hold for the moment, but a wound like that would need some serious medical attention. But that was for later. "Fuck cover, I'm going after the shooter. I'll show him how to properly tear a hole in someone," she growled as she took off after Kali. The pain in her arm hadn't exactly subsided, but she'd have to ignore it for now.

With her good arm, she pulled her Locust from its holster. Alexa's guess was that reinforcements would be coming shortly to clean up the mess the shooter had left, but that was somebody else's problem now. Alexa had one goal, and that was getting back at the piece of shit that shot her.

"Oh shit!" Arlius exclaimed as Alexa got shot. The rifle the shooter was using had cause the damage of an up close shotgun. She was in aw of the gun, it was a thing of beauty, she began to map out the mechanics. Arlius didnt even have the capability to create such a beauty of a weapon. Suddenly brought back to reality by yelling, Arlius stood.

"Wait..." she started to yell but Alexa and Kali were off. She bent down again and turned to Raze next to her. "That guy may have been supplied with more weaponry similar to his rifle. The diameter of his bullets were much larger than an average rifles to rip through her shields..." she had started but suddenly began relaying what she was thinking. Arlius quickly stopped and thought back to weapons she had made. Arlius had been working on a weapon like this but it was too difficult even for her and she didn't have the resources on Omega's black market. She felt a little disappointed in herself that she couldn't create such weapon.

She knew none of her teammates weapons were even close to the capability of these peoples weapons. They were no joke, if they had aimed for Alexa she wouldn't be here. It not only ripped through the salarian but also through Alexa's shield and shoulder. Arlius slid down the wall of the balcony and sighed. She didn't have the time to come up with better weaponry for the group and they may not even need it. Most of them, well all of them had some sort of biotic capabilities. She was the only one who didnt. Arlius was useless after all. She shook her head and got rid of the thought before jumping over the balcony. She tripped at the bottom and fell on her face but quickly picked herself up.

Any lingering doubts about the gravity of their mission evaporated as Kerr'Shal watched their contact's brains paint the floor. This was no joke, they were definitely after a big fish here. Perfect.

With a couple strokes on his omni-tool the quarian brought up a HUD display inside his visor. Thermal imaging showed his teammates in bright red and the fading outline of the dead salarian in a dull orange; a quick scan of the area revealed no other activity, but that didn't mean no one else was coming. Switching back to a normal view, he leapt over the balcony and drew his pistol. There was little use in his chasing after the unseen sniper, not on foot anyways--if the others couldn't catch up to him, then Kerr'Shal certainly wouldn't be able to. He could, however, search the salarian's body. He had obviously known something and if that sniper got away, he was still the only lead they had.

Kerr'Shal moved over to Yarsin's lifeless body and turned it over, quickly taking note of the man's clothing and accessories. It only took a couple seconds to spot exactly what he was looking for; the ignition rod for Yarsin's skycar. Kerr'Shal took the small metal stick in his hand and touched the access port. A small holographic display extended from the rod, displaying various bits of information about the vehicle, including the fact that it was parked only a couple of blocks away. If he could get to the car, he could easily catch up to the others.

"You may want to secure this body. There could be other useful items on his person," Kerr'Shal radioed to Raze and Micheal. "I will find his vehicle and join the pursuit."

With that, the quarian set off in the direction indicated by the ignition rod.

Somehow he knew this was gonna happen, some little voice in the back of his head that kept whispering 'this is gonna turn to shit.' So it wasn't much of a surprise to him when the Pyjak Salarian's brains exploded all over the forecourt, or when Alexa and Micheal both fell to the ground after a second gunshot. The humans dragged themselves into cover, the male commanding Kali to begin pursuit of the sniper, the order being obeyed quickly, though she shouted at the rest to secure the area. Great, bench the Krogan. Again.

He was getting ready to vault the railing when the Turian turned to him and began yammering on about rifles and armour and their ability to rip through shields. It took him a second or two to catch up, before realising Arlius was saying.

"Slow down there girly, you're speaking to the wrong person. Get in contact with Kali," as he spoke Aria's Fist left cover and took off after the shooter and the Huntress. And people called the Krogan hot-headed ". . . And Alexa. Tell em' what they're dealing with. Be quick, those idiots are likely to get themselves killed." With that he vaulted off the balcony, the pavement underneath cracking under his bulk. He moved quickly to Micheal's side.

"Arlius reckons this guys firepower is is too much for our shields. Those girls are in for a world of hurt. What's your play?" Raze, though the most experienced member on the team by far, seemed to be the only one who wasn't interested in leading. Or by glory-hounding, as the Quarian ran off to join the pursuit. These fools were all gonna get each other killed if they didn't learn to work together better.

It's like they all thought they were Krogan.

Micheal saw Kali burst out in a heat of biotics and pursued the hitman. He continued to see everyone chase the assailant or secure the area, Alexa moved out of cover and onto the building where the assailant was. "Where the hell do you think you're going? The arm you shoot with is unusable and that medi-gel isn't going to hold up. I know you want vengeance but you're not going to get that through stupidity." Micheal didn't want to lose one of his teammate's lives due to reckless stupidity, especially since this was a high risk mission. Alexa ignored him and Micheal thought it best if he didn't pester her further. Micheal noticed that the quarian, Kerr'Shal, was checking the body. Knowing that he would never catch up to Kali and the runner, he went to go assist Kerr'Shal in checking the body of Yarsin."What do we have here? Did you find anything yet?" While Micheal waited for Kerr'Shal to finish his observations and tell him what he found, he radio'd Kali. "Kali, do you have a grasp on our "friend"?
---
~The Assailant

The assailant started running around the corner and slipped a trap (HE trap) at the corner, he kept running and only turned back when Kali stepped onto the trap. The explosion was massive, but her biotics protected her from the majority of the blast. He turned back to kill her but only got a missed shot to the head as a return. He slipped past the next corner and disappeared, leaving Kali to her own devices.