Alright, here's TSO's second prompt, "Desperate Measures". Again, this will be interesting. And just because I feel like it needs to be said: Shade is not mine! He's the awesome OC of TheShadeOps, and if you want to know more about him, go check out a couple of the stories, they're all awesome. And thanks to Xterminator for the review, I'll get on your prompts after this one. Okay, now that that's out of the way, on to 'Desperate Measures'.

Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher

~Spitfire out

Archer shifted his sights over the building Shade's team had disappeared into, he thought he saw something. He'd learned through experience to always trust his eyes however wrong he thought he was. He cursed under his breath as he saw four enemy soldiers that looked to be the leaders standing in front of three soldiers that were tied down to wooden chairs, it was Shade's team, they'd been caught.

He nudged Toad next to him and gestured with his head towards the window he was aiming at. Toad adjusted his rifle and looked through the scope, having the same reaction as Archer. They looked at each other and came to a silent agreement on a plan of action. Several scouting missions in the middle of enemy territory demanded that they learn how to speak without moving or speaking, so they had; Toad was the only person who could read Archer because of it.

Shade groaned at his throbbing head as he woke up, fucking tranq guns… Now they were in the hands of the Zodiacs and four of their soldiers stood in front of them, each with a different symbol on the left shoulder plates. They mirrored each others' stances, arms crossed over the chest, left shoulder jutting out with their weight on their left foot. These four appeared to be the leaders. Shade would ask himself how the situation could get any worse but then it would, so he didn't dare venture there. He just stared silently at the four Zodiacs in front of him and his two teammates that were on either side of him.

"Why are you here?" The one to the far right asked, he had a 'v' shape on his shoulder, only the two ends curled out and around, almost making a circle, the symbol for Aries.

"Tell us, and we might consider letting you go," the one next to him spoke, he had half of the Aries symbol but the other half looked strange, it was Capricorn.

The other two had the symbols of Libra and Cancer.

"Like hell we're telling you anything," Shade replied calmly, staring evenly at all four of the Zodiacs.

"Very well then," 'Libra' spoke and looked somewhere behind the three men, "Sagittarius, Taurus, Scorpio, if you would?"

There was a dark chuckle from somewhere behind them. The sound made the 141 members stiffen. Three more Zodiacs stepped up beside them, each with the symbol marking their zodiac signs. Shade had the misfortune of having caught Taurus' attention, while Roach had Sagittarius, and Scorpio went after Rook.

Archer was about to make his shot when three others stepped into the view of the large window, he stopped and took his finger off the trigger, things just got a lot more complicated. The one with the Scorpio symbol on his shoulder had a whip coiled and attached to his belt, Sagittarius had a bow and quiver full of arrows on his back, Taurus was the odd one out, he didn't have a weapon, but he looked strong enough that he didn't need one.

Archer nudged Toad lightly, making his partner look over at him to read his face.

"Looks like we're up, Toad…" Archer said quietly, "Let's go."

Toad nodded in agreement and stood as they slung their rifles over their shoulders, heading swiftly down the ridge. They had to warn the captain but they couldn't break radio silence now, not now that they knew three of their members had been compromised.

"Sir!" Archer called in a harsh whisper, running up to the captain, "We've got a situation."

"Archer, what are you doing here, you and Toad are supposed to be on over-watch?" MacTavish questioned the sniper.

"Sir, Shade and his team have been compromised and captured, we have to get them out," Archer insisted.

MacTavish cursed under his breath at the situation, "Alright, you and Toad go scout them, see if you can come up with something. I'm breaking radio silence, we have to let Shepard know about this.

Archer nodded sharply and turned, motioning for Toad to follow him as he ran towards the building where Shade and the others were being held. When they got there the sight shocked them. Shade was being pummeled by Taurus, Sagittarius was using an arrow like a knife against Rook, and Scorpio had his whip around Roach's neck.

Archer looked over at Toad, who looked back at him, face full of concern and worry, "Desperate measures?" Archer suggested.

Toad looked back at the gruesome scene and back at Archer, his face hardened and he nodded in confirmation and switched his radio on, "Let's do it…" He said simply, he knew their comms were being monitored by the Zodiacs, he and Archer had a fall-back plan in place, "Lightning Three – One to Phantom, requesting close air support on target Delta – Mike," Toad said into his comm.

MacTavish heard it and knew the sound of the sniper's improvised plan, they'd brought it up in briefings as a fall back that they'd use if shit went downhill and hit the fan. He chuckled to himself, knowing it would get the 'Zodiacs' riled up and focused on the skies rather than their teammates.

Another Zodiac entered the room, the symbol on his shoulder labeled him as Leo, he spoke to each of the four quietly and then left. His sudden appearance and disappearance caused the tormentors to stop beating their victims and turn to face the four leaders.

"Who is 'Phantom'?" Cancer asked, "And what is target 'Delta – Mike'?"

Shade chuckled despite himself, for being this well versed in tactics, they were pretty stupid. Archer and Toad had purposely used the initials D.M. for 'desperate measures' so that everyone knew it wasn't a real call, it was a distraction.

"What's so funny?" Aries asked harshly, "Taurus," he ordered firmly.

Taurus snapped to attention, "Sir," his voice was gruff and gravelly.

Taurus approached Shade again but then a well placed bullet hit the large glass pane followed almost instantly by a second, neither bullet made it through. Taurus grabbed Shade and pulled him up from the chair.

The four leaders were staring at the window but looked back as Taurus brought Shade out of the view of the window, "Bring him with us," Aries ordered as they all walked out.

Shade was led harshly by Taurus, his bruised chest and face not helping in the matter.

Archer watched as five Zodiacs came out of the building, one of them had Shade in front of him, guiding him by the arm. Shade was pushed down to his knees and four of them brought out pistols and aimed them at his head, daring anyone or anything to take a shot at them. Taurus just stood back and watched with a sick smile on his face

Archer looked over at Toad, "One shot?"

"Two kills," Toad said with a smirk.

The sniper motto was One shot One kill, but this situation called for a few more desperate measures, usually, they wouldn't move around so much, but they had to get Shade and the others out of this. Archer carefully made his way across the field, Toad already had his sights on his two targets: Capricorn and Libra. Archer had to move to get his sights over Aries and Cancer and once he was in position, he flicked his comm back on.

"Phantom One in position," he responded to Toad's earlier bluff, "beginning bombing run now, danger close."

He and Toad adjusted their sights as the five Zodiacs looked to the skies in a panic. The panic, though, was short lived as Toad and Archer took one shot each to dispatch all four.

Shade got the clue and dropped, swinging his legs around to trip Taurus before the brute could react. Shade made quick work of the Zodiac and looked up as Archer and Toad came up to help him get the restraints off.

"Nice shots," Shade commented.

Toad chuckled, "What, did you think we'd miss?" he joked.

They chuckled lightly, "Alright, we gotta go get Rook and Roach out before those other guys catch on to what's going on out here," Shade commented, picking up one of the dropped pistols.

An hour later, Jayhawk was fussing over a cut Rook had on his forehead, and the fact that Roach had been torn up by the whip, and how Shade had gotten 'the shit beaten out of him'. Typical medics…

Well… I'm not sure what to say here but that was pretty awesome. Let me know what you think in the reviews yadda, yadda, yadda, you get the idea… So that was Desperate Measures. Thanks, TheShadeOps, for the prompts and for letting me use Shade, had a lot of fun with these.

Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher

~Spitfire out