Chapter 7
Once I reentered the simulation, I proceeded with finding some more Clusters before heading off to get Asha and, after picking one up that was inside of the wall that I had to blast out with a fire blast, I gasped when I felt my mind expand again, me clutching my head when I got a tiny headache before it subsided, my head feeling full of energy.
"Your head just grew again on the outside! I think you got some more mind powers! Now you can conduct electrical currents when picking something up with your mind and you can steal health from your opponents by telekinesis! All at the same time!" I heard Kinzie gawk at me.
"Whoa... I love the sound of that! Time to go free Asha," I smiled as I went off to the Shillelagh and Jake opened the way for me as I saw Matt join me.
"Be careful in Asha's simulation, Jeanie. Her mind was heavily secured by Zinyak and it actually took a combined effort from me, Kinzie, and CID to find open her mind for you to go into," Matt said.
"Don't worry, Matthew. I'll be careful. It's Asha that I'm worried about," I said.
"Me too. Just please, try not to hurt her?" Matthew asked.
"Why? Because ya love her?" I smirked at him.
"Yeah... just shut up and go in there?" he groaned. I smiled and headed in there, recounting what I knew of Asha from the 3 years I spent with her since the nuke incident.
I didn't know much about Asha as opposed to all the other members of my Saintly crew, but from the few years after we saved the world from that nut job Cyrus, I learned that she was a kickass woman, a master MI6 agent, and an invaluable member to my crew. If anyone could help us defeat Zinyak once and for all, it'd be this girl. I just gotta hope that her simulation isn't going to be complex like her...
When I appeared in Asha's simulation, I was surprised to see that it was a bar and even more surprised at the garb I was wearing. "Um... Kinzie? Matthew? Why am I dressed in an armored jumpsuit?" I asked.
"You should look at your face instead, boss, haha!" I heard Kinzie laugh on the other end.
"My face? What's wrong with my fa-... Oh. So Asha changed my face to some kind of hot girl with short hair huh?... Where is she, anyways?" I asked, looking around and not seeing her... that is, until a door burst open and Asha started to attack some of the bar patrons with her fists and nerves of steel before shooting one of the thugs with a silenced pistol, me smirking at that.
"Well, nice to see you haven't changed much," I admitted to her, Asha looking surprised by my presence.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked.
"Language... anyways, I'm here to help break you out of this loop the aliens have you in," I said to her.
"Heh, didn't think that you'd try to help me of all people," she admitted.
"Damn, I'm hurt. Oh, the pain..." I groaned with a fake performance, Asha groaning at this until I saw the bartender try to pull a gun on her, me grabbing the gun with telekinesis and smacking it against his head, Asha then picking the unconscious man up and sending him across the bar, smacking his face into all of the bottles until I saw his face smack into a hidden button on the wall. And after it got pushed, the ground below us formed into some stairs.
"Well, that's handy," Asha smirked.
"Can you tell me what the heck we're supposed to be doing? And who are we going after?" I asked her.
"Your evil twin," Asha said, that throwing me for a loop.
"Viens encore?" I asked in French.
"I said your evil twin. I'll explain more as we proceed forward. But you'll need this silenced rifle to do the job right," Asha said as she handed me a silenced SMG rifle, which I smiled at. "I have been called here to eliminate the presence of a Madame X. She is threatening the peace of the United States and is planning an assault from this base in question. We need to move in and take her out without drawing attention to ourselves," Asha explained.
"So basically this is Metal Slug... nice to know," I smiled.
"Shut up, there's a guard in the next room," Asha said as she hacked a door open.
"One guy? No problem," I smiled as I saw green lights there.
"Shoot out those lights so he won't see us," Asha said.
"Seriously? Why can't we go in guns blazing again?" I asked her with a hushed voice.
"That'll just get us killed faster. Trust me, I've been through this hell over 30 times before you came here," Asha said.
"Damn... zat sucks... okay," I sighed as I focused and shot out the lights, allowing us to move forward and shoot out the final light while staying out of sight.
"Now something different. Shoot the light, then the guard," Asha said.
"Asha, that light has a family... don't make me do that," I smiled at her.
"Not the time, Jeanie. Not the time," she groaned.
"Fine, fine, can't have a little fun," I frowned as I shot out the light then, while the guard was confused, I shot him right through the skull.
"Nice one," she said as we moved forward and saw another guard, him seeming to be speaking to a recorded message.
"Okay, we'll need to move through the air duct to get to the light he's by," Asha said as she moved the air duct nearby and we proceeded through.
"These guards are a disgrace to all armed forces," I smiled.
"I shall refrain from making a comment," Asha smiled.
"You don't need to comment. Besides, I'd take a bullet for any of the Saints any day. And now you're part of our family, so I'd do the same for you," I smiled at her.
"Loyalty is certainly your strongest asset, Magnifique," Asha smiled at me as the light came into view. I shot it and, while the guard was confused, I shot him through the skull.
"You're an even better shot than me," Asha smirked as we proceeded around the corner and we saw a duo of soldiers and a single stripper.
"Okay, shoot both lights first, then quickly dispatch the guards. Leave the stripper alive though. She's innocent," Asha said.
"Okay, leave slutty whore alive, kill guards. Got it," I smirked as I shot the lights out quickly, then connected a shot to each of the guards afterwards, making sure to leave the stripper alive, even though she looked shocked at the death of the soldier.
"Okay, let's move on," Asha said as I asked her a question.
"So Asha... what is your worst fear? Because I don't get how an evil version of me could be your worst fear," I asked her.
"It's not you that I'm afraid of... I'm afraid of failure..." Asha admitted to me as we proceeded through another door and we saw that we were now in a hallway with some strange liquid containment units with a person in it. I didn't question it though, as we moved around another corner.
"You're... afraid of failure? I didn't expect you'd be most fearful of that," I admitted to her.
"Well, I am... when you have the weight of the entire country on your shoulders, you can't afford failure... wait... more guards... quick, under those boxes," Asha said, me listening and hiding under a box and proceeding a bit before stopping from the guy's line of sight.
"Stay hidden and don't block their paths or we'll be sitting ducks," Asha said.
"Naw, I'm just gonna do this," I said with a whisper as I waited for the soldier to turn around and then I pounced and sliced his neck and stabbed him a couple of times.
"Well, that's one way to do it I guess..." Asha said with a whisper as I did the same with the next two guards and we then came upon a room with something I didn't really want to do.
"You 'ave got to be shitting me," I groaned at what I saw. Lasers. Millions of lasers.
"Be careful. You'll need to do swift acrobatics to get through this or risk getting burnt with 200 degrees of skin-melting... wait, what are you doing?" Asha asked me as I noticed another air duct and opened it up.
"Like I would do something as stupid as go through a million lasers? Naw, I'm taking ze air duct. It's easier and safer," I frowned at her.
"Fine, we'll do it your way," Asha groaned. We then proceeded through the air ducts until we reached the other side, us dropping into a room with a large television in front of us. "Okay, only a little more until Madame X. You'd think that she'd have better defenses," Asha admitted. And then I heard... my voice!
"Oh, my dear Asha, I thought you knew me better than that," I heard my voice say as the giant television turned on to show... me as I looked right now... but with a mustache and a beard.
"What... ze hell... do you have on your face? You seriously imagine evil me with a mustache, Asha? Stupide..." I sighed.
"What ze fuck are you doing in this place?... Well, it doesn't matter, we already have ze upper hand. Matt, would you like to say anything to Asha?" evil me smiled as Matt appeared, me already knowing that it was a simulated Matt and not the real deal.
"That's not the real Matt, bitch. It won't matter what you do to him, the real Matt is in the real world," I frowned at her.
"Seriously? So this is some kind of simulation?" Asha asked.
"Oui, it is. Zinyak's own personal torture device. He's locked all of our members in this stasis, with me, Kinzie, and Kieth able to wake up on our own. I needed to help the rest of you snap out, though," I said.
"Peh! You really like to ruin everything, don't you?" the evil me asked.
"That's one thing we share in common, Madame X... or should I just call you bearded lady? Yeah, I'm just going to call you bearded lady," I smiled at her. She then growled and cut the connection, us needing to go through the doors nearby to venture on. And upon going into the second hallway? We were ambushed by at least 20 soldiers! "Now can we start shooting everyone we see?" I groaned at Asha.
"Peh, might as well," Asha smiled as she started to attack with her guns while I did something more daring. I started picking up the various different baddies with my mind, managing to send an electrical current to all the other guards to shock their insides out while making me feel rejuvenated. "Whoa! That's a bit too much health... hmm.." I said as I touched Asha with my bare hand, her gasping when I saw that her hand gained a bit of a crackle to it.
"Whoa! I feel... I feel powerful! AHAHAHA!" she exclaimed in a small orgasm as she rushed forward and zapped some more guards as we entered the main compound, me noticing something off about the Bearded Lady's voice after giving Asha some leftover power.
"N-NooOOO... S-ShE's... GeeTTinng... TooOO PowERfUllLL! AGH! CAN'T TAKE IT!" I heard Madame X say over the PA systems before I heard a loud splatter of blood on the other end.
"Whoa... did that just happen?" Asha asked.
"I think that me giving you some super powers of your own was too much for the simulation to handle... see, there's already a door right there," I smiled at the new door that appeared.
"Yeah... okay, let's go home," Asha said.
"About that... I need to tell you something..." I sighed to her.
"I already know... I could hear your voices earlier when I was redoing the simulation. The Earth is gone, but if we take down the leader of the aliens, we still may be able to save it with time travel. I'm prepared for that, Madame President," she smiled at me.
"Okay, then let's go," I smiled as we left together, our hands touching as we left the simulation, me smiling awake as Matt immediately went to me with a smile.
"You did it! Let's go see Asha! Quickly!" he exclaimed in giddiness as we then proceeded to her pod and she arose with a smile.
"Mm... Finally... The hell hole simulation is gone... ah..." she sighed with a smile.
"You're back, Asha! I couldn't bear to see you like that, trapped in that simulation..." Matt said as he hugged Asha gently.
"I missed you too, Matthew..." Asha smiled.
"Okay, now we only have one more guy to rescue. Ben King, former leader of the Vice Kings and my Chief of Staff. What's his simulation like, Kinzie? Any clues?" I asked her.
"Actually, his simulation seems to look like a large church... but what could he have to do with religion? He never struck me as the religious type," Kinzie said. I already knew what that church was and smiled.
"I know that church! It was where I first joined the Saints and where I started my life of crime! It was our original hangout and hideout. He must be in a simulation where he's being attacked by that bitch Tanya at the Saints' church," I said with a frown.
"Wow, good thinking there, boss! I never would've thought of that!" Pierce smirked.
"Alright, I'm going in," I said with a smile.
