A/N: I AM ALIVE! Hurricane Sandy beat the crap out of the east coast, but somehow I'm still here. And I still have power! Imagine that! New Jersey has been wrecked, from Barnaget Bay all the way down to Toms River. Staten Island is flooded. Power outages still run rampant. And yet in spite of all that, I'm still here. I live neither here nor there, and am thankfulllly a tad further inland, but my thoughts and prayers go out to all those who are suffering in this terrible time nonetheless. Why? Because they're people just like us! If you can find it in your heard please, donate to the relief effort who so desperately needs it!
And with that, I proudly present you with...
...the next chapter of Cataclysm!
"Your species is...strange."
~Naruto.
StAtIc
"No." the word was as flat as it was baritone, simplistic in its meaning. Yet there could be no mistaking the anger contained within that single syllable. He stood before them, arms folded across the crimson carapace of his armor, unflinching, unblinking. His very posture screamed defiance. Scarlet orbs locked with those of Shepard; red eyes blazing into brown with fierce vehemence. The hot-headed blond had just been given a direct order and, unsurprisingly, he refused to obey. His very body vibrated with tension; as though there were a great beast lurking within him, itching to tear its way out. Liara couldn't much blame him for his anxiety. After being in stasis for so many years, his disposition was only natural.
They were nearly upon Palaven now, streaking toward its moon as the turian fleet fought and failed to hold off the enemy advange ravaging their homeworld. Their ships were torn like paper mashey before the enemy's superior firepowe; unable to withstand more than a mere moment of punishment. The Normandy flitted through the chaos and destruction like an unseen angel; ignored by the larger ships both friendly and enemy alike as the former strove to protect their precious planet. The hull bucked briefly as a nearby explosion rattled her Mass Effect Core. They'd have to land, and soon.
Provided this arguement ever ended.
"My answer is no." Naruto repeated, heedless of the swaying deck beneath his feet. "I will not stay inside the ship, not while Reapers abound outside." His gaze slipped past Shepard and locked upon Liara. "I'm coming with you and there's not a thing you can do to sop me." Liara squirmed uncomfortably beneath his gaze feeling like prey in the prescence of a predator; as though the slightest movement would give her away. She was relieved, therefore, when it glided past her to observe the crew on the bridge. Mere moments ago they'd been calm, complacent, organized, even. Now, a few of the men and women, risked glances at their commander and the newcomer, idly wondering if this standoff would come to a head.
Everything had spiralled hopelessly out of control once the alien blond caught wind of the invasion on Palaven.
"You still haven't recovered-
"I'm coming." Naruto's angry affimation overrode the human's patient, placating tone. "You have no say in the matter."
"As am I." Javik's accented authoratative voice seconded as he joined them on the bridge. Naruto flashed his pearly whites in a rare grin toward his comrade; his first true sign of mirth since boarding the Normandy. "If there are Reapers here, then we will fight them." Four sets of eyes swiveled toward the prothean. Where had he been all this time? For the last hour he'd secured himself in the cargo hold. Now he was here as if he had always been.
"What would your mate think of your weakness?" Naruto challenged at Shepard. "Your inability to trust belittles her, commander."
Shepard bristled, and Liara knew at once his thoughts were with Lieutenant Ashley Williams. Reunited on earth only to be separated again by the machinations of Cerberus; their LT currently resided in a hospital bed in the Citadel's medical bay. The Asari saw and recognized the haunted look in those stern blue eyes knowing that the man still thought of his lover even now; her battered and bruised face would remain etched deep into Shepard's memory forevermore. His inability to protect her would likely haunt him until the day of her recovery.
"How do you know about her?" Liara blurted out, cursing herself even as the words left her lips. Crimson eyes snapped toward and fixated upon her, pinnioning the asari with a gaze. Liara felt trapped, within that stare; ensnared by those eerie shades of scarlet. Naruto stared at her intently, mouth pressed into a thin line. His mouth. His lips. Oh Goddess, his lips! The memory of their kiss crashed down over her like a wave, drawing a faint violet flush to her cheeks. Unable to muster her courage to meet the blonde's scrutiny, Liara tore her gaze aside.
"Did I not tell you my kind read emotions?" The blond reminded her. "At this moment, your commander's libido is lit up like a skylight." For a moment it looked as though he might add to that, but a sly smile pulled his lips upward instead. Once more he turned from the Asari to regard the brooding earthling standing before her.
"She is important to you, I trust?" Everyone knew he spoke of Ashley.
Shepard's silence spoke volumes.
"I will heal her, then." Naruto offered. "Allow me to join you on Palaven and I will allow her to rejoin the fight."
"You cannot!" Surprisingly, Javik was the one to object. "I will not allow you to halve your lifespan for the sake of a human!"
Liara half-expected Naruto to bristle at the unexpected remark; instead he merely shrugged.
"It is my life; I shall do with it as I please." If he was at all alarmed by the sudden josting of the Normandy as it entered the moon's atmosphere, he did little to show it. "Now...
...shall we depart?
The reapers had arrived in force.
They were everywhere, even here, on Palaven's moon. Husks swarmed the grounds in blitzkrieg fashion uncaring for the bullets ripping into their synthetic flesh. Drones blackened the skies, raining hellfire down upon battered bunkers and beleagured soldiers, their incessant buzz wailing through the air as they shot down scores upon scores of fighters. There were even a pair of Reapers towering in the distance. Turians fought and screamed and died, their weapons unable to put even the smallest dent in their enemies advance. Such was the hell into which the shuttle descended.
Naruto shouldered his way off the shuttle first, muttering an apology as his shoulder brushed against Liara's back and his hand her waist, his fingers unintentionally grazing the white fabric just below her hip. Ba-dump. That touch, that single, unassuming touch, sent shivers shooting through Liara's body, leaving her weak with wanton want and sudden need. Oh dear. It would seem she'd been right about the hormones, after all. That, or a lingering attraction had begun to develop between the two of them...
"My apologies, Liara."
?!
He'd actually used her name!
The asari fumbled for a response as his words lingered in her ears, taunting her, mocking her. She struggled to formulate up a reply that wouldn't make her look and sound like a dithering schoolgirl, but the kitsue was already gone. Striding off the ramp and toward a small bluff in the distance. Between him and his new destination stood a horde of husks, humans harvested by reapers, forced to become mindless, unthinking synthetic abominations. Bullet-sponges, they called them. Nothng short of multiple shots to the head and/or body would put them down. And Naruto didn't so much as have a piece on him! Liara watched, gobsmacked, unable to believe her eyes as the alien smacked his gauntlets together producing a hollow clang. As one the husks raised their heads, alerted by the sound. A sibilant hiss tore through the air; she had no way of knowing whether it was the blond or the husks; only that the former raised his armored arms, ready to wade into the thick of things.
Despite her earlier admission, he'd elected to remain without weapons. What the hell was he thinking? Hand-to-hand combat was outright suicide. He'd be mobbed within mintues! She raised her SMG and sighted down the barrel, ready to provide support, but a three-fingered hand forced the weapon down. Javik. The ancient alien maintained the grip on her wrist, shaking his large head when she offered a small sound of confusion. He almost seemed...amused?
"Watch." The prothean commanded.
"What?"
Shepard seemed to share in her perplexity, giving voice to the obvious question:
"Shouldn't we help him?"
Javik gave a low chortle.
"You would be in the way, commander."
Six pairs of eyes-four of which belonged to Javik-came to rest upon Naruto. He stood alone againt the husks, his advance slowing to a crawl as the throng of synthetic abominations swarmed him. Alone, but not unable to fend for himsef. Crimson crackled from the blonde's fingertips at their approach, sinister shades of scarlet boiling outward from his body like steam. Biotics. Liara could feel the raw energy in the air, the first surge of biotic power witnessed since the events of Eden Prime. Naruto raised his hand as the first husk leapt at him, jaw agape, curled his fingers into a fist, clenched it, and brought said fist crashing down to the ground. Hard.
Palaven's moon erupted.
The soi was the blood and the earth, and the blood spilled.
Clenched knuckels powered through the husk's gaping orifice, tearing through its open mouth with a wet, squelching sound. Momentum mashed it to the ground, and cold fury burned the word white. Wave upon waves of vermillion light burst forward from the point of impact as the earth cratered, laying into the throng of writhing bodies like a thing alive; reducing them to so much ashes as the searing surge of crimson swept through and past them. Liara felt her skin prickle, risin in gooseflesh as the crimson tide scorched overhead, narrowly missing them.
"Point taken." Shepard admitted, albeit reluctantly. If the blond could pulverize horde's of husks and shatter soil with a swing of the fist...well, he certainly wasn't going to stand in his way! Naruto cocked his head aside as the last of his enemies crumbled to dust, listening. Liara was tempted once more to scratch his earsas they approached, but remembered the blonde's warnings and drew back at the very last instant. She valued her hand! It was just as well; because the moment they drew within shouting distance, Naruto began to chuckle. It started low in his throat; a soft ruble gradually working its way up the ranks. Liara suddenly felt like she'd laugh as well, and carefully suppressed the urge. Goddess, what was wrong with her?
Naruto threw back his head and laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound.
"This!" He cackled, gleeful in his exuberance, "This is just like before, isn't it, Javik?!" His gaze swung to the Prothean, orbs flickering from sapphire to scarlet; azure and crimson and back again. "War...we can go back to war now! Except this time its not just the two of us...its soooo much more!" His eyes swept over Liara, ravaging her body like hot coals. The asari shrank back in fear. What maddness! He was so...so different! Gone was the calm yet cold exterior; in its place was something else; an almighty entity that delighted in blood and chaos and destruction.
"How can you possibly enjoy this?" Liara was horrified! How could anyone enjoy this?! "You...you're a monster!"
"A monster?"
And just like that, Naruto was calm again.
"Your people know nothing of war, asari." His features hardened as his eyes glided shut; when he opened them again those gentle blue orbs were more akin to winter ice than the afternoon skies for which Palaven was so well known. He raised his hand for empty air, beckoning. Liara's stomach lurched as a tendril of crimson light stretched from his fingertips and yanked another husk out of from cover; and...there was nothing human about this one. If there was ever a turian husk, tan this was it. Its face was a mottled messk of wires and metal mesh, the gun clutched between its fingertips nearly as sinister as its form. Naruto beckoned again, eyes agleam with sinsiter intent. The ravager lurched forward, drawn by the red string tied around its throat.
Drawn to Naruto.
His fingers seized upon the ravager's skull, those eerie, blood red claws closing around its still squirming face with eerie intent. The reaper creature shrilled surprise and fired its gun but to no avail; the bullets riocheted off the blonde and his shields as though he were forged of sheer durasteel. The alien gave a sole, singular grunt and squeezed, pulping the husk's skull between his slim fingers. He brushed the gore away from his visge with nary even a grunt, smiling softly to himself, reveling in the bloodshed.
"Shall we continue, commander?" He inquired pleasantly.
"Not until you explain what the hell that was!"
"I rather like war." Naurto smiled, his words modulated to a darkened glee. "No," he corrected himself, "I love war. I love the smell of gunfire on an open plain. The sensation of blood, dripping down my skin. The sound of my opponent's final climax; their death rattle as I squeeze the life from their veins." He touched two fingers to his eyes, clucking softly to himself. "The sight of an enemy's throat is sooo sensual, crushed beneath my boot." He flung both hands before the battlefield at their backs, uncaring for the reapers in the distance. "Don't you agree, Shepard?!" His voice rose in pitch almost euphoric in it delight. "You've brought me back to the glorious battlefield after all these years! You've given me the chance to fight! To kill! To-
He would've continued, had not a deafening bass not boomed within their ears. Apparently Naruto's little rampage had drawn the attention of a nearby reaper; the massive construct was plodding towards them, its core pulsating brightly as it sighted down the organics that dared defy it.
"Goddess!" Liara yelped! "How are we going to deal with that?!"
Javik's only response was to shoulder his rifle.
"We have a weapon of our own." His gaze slipped to Naruto; the blonde's blue orbs were blazing on the massive metal monolith in the distance. Naruto gave the reaper a good, long look. And then he smiled. It was not a pleasant thing, that smile. He reached up to the gauntlets shackling his wrists: slowly and methodically dismantling them. He bent double, and made as if to remove his armour, but a squeak of surprise rootted him in place. Three pairs of eyes turned toward the culprit; Doctor Liara T'soni.
"N-Naruto!" She sputtered her surprise at the blond. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I am removing my armour, asari." Came the deadpanned response.
"I'm perfectly aware of that!" Liara was also perfectly aware of her own voice, rising in pitch-a regretttable feat that occurred whenever she was distressed-however, her humiliation remaind further overidden by her ire, as well as her own inability to understand the situation. "Why are you stripping?"
"Because it would be painful for me to chance, were I not to remove my armour. " Naruto said, his voice deep and silken. Liara couldn't help but shiver. Goddess! She needed to have a full medical evaluation once they returned to the Normandy. She was certain he'd done something to her with that kiss!
"Change into what?" she forced herself to ask.
Naruto chuckled.
"This." When he spoke, his words were scarcely more than a phantom's whisper. Abruptly his eyes bulged so large Liara was certain they'd fall right out of his head. He doubled over, his body consumed with a series of gut-wrenching snaps, crackles, and pops (Ignore the pun lol) as though something deep within his stomach were struggling to escape. As one, his nine tails stood erect, bristling from end to crimson end. The softest chortle fled his lips, like a proud predator slinking out of its den in search of prey.
"What's happening to him?!" Shepard demanded to know.
"I suggest you stand back, Commander. You as well, Asari." Javik advised, those eerie, golden orbs of his betraying nothing but the utmost of confidence. "You are unlikely to be in danger, however..
And then Uzumaki Naruto began to change. There could be no other word for it. His physical form simply ceased to be; armour shattering like so much glass, his human skeleton warping, twisting as he grew to obscene heights. His flesh rippled like clay, sloughing off him as his body sprouted crimson fur. His teet, already deadly incissors, grew larger and wide, his skull sloughing back, ears falling flat against his head. From here, Liara could barely stand to look at his shadow; the sight of the transformation was so horrific.
It was almost as if the beast had been there from the beginning, lurking just below the surface, wearing flesh and skin as its guise. Liara choked back a gasp as the towering kitsune bounded away from them, dragging a massive paw past, digging deep gouges into the moon's soil with its claws. An earth-shattering roar tore its way across the battlefield, terrifying turian and husk alike as the great demon tore towards its prey with an almost reckless abandon, utterly uncaring for the allies left in its wake.
"What the hell?!" Shepard guffawed. "That thing's massive!"
Naruto, no, the monster Naruto had become, sank its fangs into the reaper's armored shell. Fangs that should have been deflected by the metal carapace drove deep instead, shearing through wires and steel as though they were so naught but paper. The reaper bleated its surprise; it hadn't been expecting such an attack to piece it, nor its shields. It thrashed in the kitsune's grip, a searing line of crimson streaking upward from within its core and toward the monster's head. Too little too late. A massive tail slapped the reaper across its shell, leaving its laser to lance harmlessly into a faraway mountain. And then it was over.
Nine tails of pure crimson coiled about its legs, dragging the reaper to the soil with the force of an almighty earthquake. Before it could hope to rise and continue the fight, the great fox pounced, tearing it into with fang and claw and tail eviscerating the massive metal monolith with ease despite its best efforts to break free. Naruto opened its mouth, a ball of black light already gathered within its mighty maw, growling larger with each passing second.
"I believe he called that the Bijudama." Javik observed, the tiniest touch of smugness, and perhaps terror, in his tone. Liara looked on in silent horror as the world burned black and white, as the reaper crumbled like so much dust and detriment beneath the all-encompassing wave of destruction. A wall of white lifted them all from their feet and flung them to the floor. The reaper...not so much. Its shell blackened beneath the energiies of the bijudama, rusting and falling apart as the towering kitsune looked on, thrust its head back, and howled at the burning planet above their heads. Uzumaki Naruto was on the loose. At long last, he had returned, an indefatigable spetre of dread that would crush everything synthetic.
Liara almost felt sorry for the reapers...
...almost, but not quite.
A/N: Wow, it has been awhile hasn't it? In that time we've seen some new DLC kicked our way, Leviathan, (which I have yet to play) and the extended cut, which was very much needed, and yet, still oddly dissatisfying. I mean, suuuuure add a few new scenes. No new gameplay whatsoever. Everyone will LOVE that. Ah, I'm ranting aren't I. Anywho with the horror that is Hurricane Sandy now past, I can keep writing.I can also say that I support ShepardxAshley, at least in this story. Liara is right, Naruto's prescence-and perhaps that kiss-is having an adverse effect on her. Naruto is, after all, not quite altogether there in this fic; alternating between periods of callous calm and maddening fury. We'll return to cannon as next chapter, with Naruto wreaking havoc as evern, an of course, Garrus will finally appear!
But enough about fiction! Back to reality! Get out there and vote, people! It's election day! We won't have another one for quite awhile! So, in the immortal words of Atlas...
...review, (and vote!) would ya kindly?
R&R! =D
