Blood ran down Gold Experience's orichalcum plating as John tore into the Cerberus troops at their objective area. His rifle emptied, he opted to leap into melee, charging with his biotics at targets of opportunity before ripping them apart with his gauntlets, the only pieces of armor not stained with the viscera of his foes. The power fields around his fists evaporated any fluids before they made contact with the metal and even through his helmet filter, the stench of boiling blood filled John's nostrils. The human part of him wanted to retch, but the Exalted part of him reveled in the destruction of these creatures of darkness. 042 and Bau were not far behind, their weapons and blades reaping a bloody toll among the mortal and lesser undead forces arrayed against them. Smoke filled the sky, blotting out the midday sun as the compound burned.<br/><br/>A Guardian attempted to shield bash the Solar, only for John to plant his feet and push the man back. Snatching the Talon pistol mag-locked to the  Guardian's side, John overheated its thermal clip as he perforated a nearby Phantom. Ignoring the gunfire, John kept pushing, ramming the Guardian over a railing. Tearing the shield off the soldier's arm at the last moment, John proceeded to use the heavy armor plate as a bludgeon, beating a Dragoon to a boneless pulp.<br/><br/>'042,' he yelled, 'overload on that mech!'<br/><br/>'Compliance.'<br/><br/>From the Geth's gauntlet arced a bolt of blue lightning. With the sound of shattering glass, the Atlas mech's shields collapsed. John took the opportunity to rotate the shield and use it to impale the cockpit and pilot with a quick throw. Taking a running leap off the Atlas' top, John kicked off, knocking the mech face-down. Retrieving a fallen STG trooper's Scorpion pistol, John stuck five miniature grenades on the mech's exposed reactor, vaporizing a cluster of Engineers and Centurions with the resulting explosion.<br/><br/>'Ooh, I guess you<span style="font-style: italic">can</span>stick it,' Joyeuse teased. 'I like this gun. Can we have more of this gun?'<br/><br/>John mag-locked it to his side. No time to scavenge for spare heatsinks yet. Hefting a nearby potted plant by its stem, John tested its weight.<br/><br/>'No, don't,' exclaimed an STG biologist, 'that's a rare Algoni f--'<br/><br/>John swung it into the gut of another Phantom, sending her flying and cracking the ceramic pot, scattering clods of soil on the ground. Several more troopers and nephwracks suffered similar fates. Vegetative states induced by a vegetable. Go figure.<br/><br/>'--orushcate plant,' finished the scientist.<br/><br/>The pot shattered, John gave the plant its last hurrah by ramming its stem into the face of a Rampart mech. He checked his sensors. Wrex's extraction point would be clear in a few minutes if they kept up the pace, long before he and the package arrived. Now they just had to deal with what appeared to be an incoming Essence signature. Wonderful. Just how many Abyssals did Cerberus have?