A/N - slightly shorter than usual
Enjoy!
Nights aboard the Normandy were usually very peaceful. After a long day of working on the ship, the crew was always exhausted. Depending on if there was a mission of any sorts that day, Naruto and his squadmates were normally tired too. Even Mordin who could virtually sleep for one hour and go for two days sometimes pulled out the cot in his lab and slept a whole eight hours. The group's time on Illium was just about at an end having recruited Samara, Thane, and Sasuke. Although he was still determined to help Liara become the Shadow Broker, destroying the Collectors had to come first. Turning in his bed, Naruto punched his pillow to make it more comfortable and sank into the comfortable Asari made mattress for a good rest.
"Naruto?"
"What is it EDI," he grunted into the pillow.
"Are you awake Naruto?"
"No EDI I'm not."
"The Illusive Man wishes to speak to you in the debriefing room."
"Tell him to fuck off and call back tomorrow."
"My hardware protocols prevent me from using profanity Naruto."
"Then tell him I said to 'F off and call back tomorrow', I'm pretty sure that he will understand my message."
"He has information about the Collectors that he believes you will want to hear."
Groaning to himself, the blond crawled out of bed, grabbed his slippers, and got in the elevator. Upon getting out of the elevator, he turned the corner going through Mordin's Lab to get to the debriefing room. The Salarian Scientist was asleep in his lab chair in front of a white board with numerous math equations, and science formulas plastered over it. Naruto sighed and threw a small blanket over him, and walked into the debriefing room.
"Patching in the Illusive Man Naruto."
The debriefing table sank into the Normandy, and Naruto stepped on the platform that appeared. T.I.M. was standing off to the side a cigarette in his hand. His orb like blue eyes glowing in the darkness of the room.
"Good evening Naruto."
"No it's more like good midnight, don't you ever sleep? Or eat? Or change your clothes? Or not smoke?"
"Giving you answers to those questions would be irrelevant to the reason why I contacted you."
"Obviously, so tell me what is so important it couldn't wait for morning?"
"I've found the Collectors."
"Definitely couldn't wait until morning," said Kurama.
"I intercepted a distress beacon from a Turian patrol," explained T.I.M. "They stumbled on to a Collector ship beyond the Korlus System. The Turians have been utterly wiped out, but they did manage to cripple the Collector vessel. You need to board that ship and get any hard data on the Collectors. Find me something that I can use to help you get to their home world."
"How the hell did Turians disable a Collector ship," replied Naruto.
"Turians have the best militaristic minds in the galaxy so anything is possible in a fight with them. My reports indicate the hull's intact, but all other systems on the ship seem to be offline. They could be making repairs right now and I'm not saying this won't be dangerous. But we can't let an opportunity like this slip by."
"If this is a patrol," started Kurama. "Then how come recon teams haven't been sent in to look for survivors?"
Naruto relayed the message and the T.I.M. replied," they will once I stop blocking their transmissions and giving them false reports."
"Pass the coordinates to Joker," yawned Naruto. "We'll go right away."
"Good, and once you're on the ship establish an uplink with EDI. She'll mine their data for information regarding the Omega 4 Relay." T.I.M. took a long deep puff of his cigarette. "Good luck Naruto."
30 minutes later
Normandy Deck 2 cockpit
"Can someone please explain to me why we're doing this again," sighed Joker. "If that damn ship comes online, the Normandy might get blown to hell again."
"It is necessary in bringing down the Collectors Mr. Moreau," said EDI.
"I just wish it was necessary after I had my morning coffee."
"To hell with the goddamn coffee," growled Zaeed. "I just want to take my ass back to sleep."
The Normandy had gone through the Mass Relay to get them to Nebula System. Naruto had woken up Zaeed, Tali, and Sasuke. Since he was still on probation like status Sasuke couldn't be upset about being woken up. He scared Zaeed when he woke him, so the old mercenary nearly shot him with the handgun under his pillow. Tali shocked him with an overload by accident. The Normandy got as close as it could to the Collector ship without being detected, and the group took the shuttle down. Because they couldn't be sure if the ship had oxygen or not the three humans of course had to wear masks, while Tali's suit was already insulated with oxygen. The inside of the Collector ship wasn't what any of them were expecting.
"Keelah," said Tali in amazement when she stepped off the shuttle.
"It looks like a giant insect hive in here," said Zaeed.
"It stinks in here too," sighed Sasuke. "Like death."
After walking about 30 feet ahead they discovered why Sasuke's statement was true. In the center of the floor was a ton of bodies all piled together. Men, women, and children fused and burned together into one large smelly pile.
"What good are dead bodies to them," asked Kurama.
"Perhaps the Collectors are using them for study," said Tali once Naruto relayed the message.
"Well at least now they can't suffer anymore," sighed Naruto.
"Holy shit," said Zaeed. They turned and looked and saw that he was by an examination table where several bodies were lying. "Come take a look at this Naruto."
Hearing the confusion in the old mercenary's voice Naruto walked over and was just as baffled. Strapped to all the tables were the bodies of Collectors. Each one of them had been experimented on. Some had their chests sliced open, and others had limbs amputated. The head of one had been chopped off, and also sliced down the middle.
"Why were they experimenting on their own," asked Tali.
"EDI," said Naruto after scanning all the bodies and a nearby terminal. "I'm uploading some of the things we've seen and the tech they have here. See if you can figure out what these bastards were up to."
"Data received," she replied. "Analyzing; the Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."
"What are they looking for," asked Sasuke.
"I have no hypothesis on their motivations Mr. Uchiha, all I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable. A quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is know to have this form of DNA: the Protheans."
"Keelah," cried Tali. "The Protheans didn't vanish, they were enslaved by the Reapers."
"These are no longer Protheans Tali. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."
"We have some of the greatest minds in the Galaxy," said Naruto. "How hasn't anybody ever discovered this?"
"No one has ever studied a Collector's genetic code in this detail."
"Well the sad thing is despite them being Prothean, they work for the Reapers now and we have to eliminate them."
"Damn straight," growled Zaeed. "They're not doing that shit to us."
"Agreed, let's move out."
The foursome pressed on throughout the ship expecting to see an enemy, but there were absolutely none. True the ship was huge and most likely had several levels, but there should've been some Collectors where they were. And while they were on the inside of a ship, the interior walls of the ship felt strangely crag like.
"Hey Naruto," said Joker. "On a hunch I had EDI run an analysis on this ship."
"What did you find," he asked.
"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."
"This is the ship that killed Shepard," snarled Tali. "No way this is a coincidence."
"Something isn't adding up here Naruto," said Joker. "Watch your back in there."
Naruto cut the communication and walked into the next room and stopped. The room space they were within could've held a small team of fighter jets. On the ceiling were millions of orange shaped pods. He could've kicked himself in the nuts for not bringing Hinata or Neji. At least with the Byakugan they could've seen what was in the pods, but he was pretty sure each one contained a large amount of humans.
"Son of a bitch," grumbled Zaeed after looking at the ceiling. "That's a helluva lot of pods."
"They could take every human in the Terminus Systems," sighed Sasuke. "And still have enough pods to start on a new race of people."
"This can only mean one fucking thing: the Reapers are heading to Earth."
"Not if we stop them," said Kurama.
Naruto looked at the platform they were nearing. In the center was an object that was glowing green. After a quick scan from Tali, she told him that it would get them into the Collector ship main hardware. Naruto's omni-tool glowed yellow and he synced the Normandy with the Collector ship.
"Well EDI," asked Naruto. "Are we getting anything?"
"Data mine in progress Naruto."
Everyone waited with a painful patience until they heard a loud boom. Naruto looked to the side as a portion of the ship began to re-arrange itself.
"Someone wanna tell me what in shit in hell just happened," asked the blond.
"Major power surge," explained Joker. "For a second everything went black, but we're all okay now."
"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems. Naruto, I also have bad news. What just happened wasn't a malfunction. It was a trap."
The platform they were upon began to shake, and suddenly it shot upward. Tali fell onto Sasuke, while Naruto and Zaeed braced themselves so they didn't fall. The platform rose high enough until they were suspended in the air.
"Uh EDI," said Sasuke.
"I am having trouble maintaining connection. There is someone else within the system."
Before Naruto could respond, more platforms began to descend from a hole in the ship's ceiling. The Collectors had finally made themselves known. Collector Troopers, Captains, and unfortunately a Scion were on the platforms.
"Connections re-established. I need to finish the download before I can override any of their systems."
"Then you better get it done fast EDI," growled Naruto grabbing a pistol. "Everybody ready?"
"You bet your ass I'm fucking ready," yelled Zaeed setting his grenades on the ground next to him. Once they were in range the Collectors began to fire. Their shots just like before on Horizon seemed as though they were modded with something. The bullets shredded through everyone's shields and armor almost instantly. The Scion was the worst. Three shots from it nearly meant instant death, especially because two shots destroyed shields. And unlike before, because the ship didn't have any oxygen, Naruto and Sasuke would be unable to use fire jutsu against it.
"The platform," cried Kurama.
"What about it," asked Naruto.
"It's within jumping distance for you dolt!"
Ignoring the insult, and taking the fox's advice; Naruto got a running start and using his chakra, jumped from the platform he was on to the one furthest away. Upon landing he formed two quick Rasengans and smashed the nearest Collectors in the face. Turning to the left he ducked just in time to avoid the Scions swinging arm. He peered ahead quickly and could see Sasuke had copied him. He had jumped across to the second platform and was fighting the Collectors too. His sudden distraction was all the Collectors needed. A Captain tackled pulled him off the Scion slamming him hard onto his back. As he was covering his face to avoid the kicks, a purple combat drone appeared in the center.
"Go Chatika," Tali cried over the radio.
The purple combat drone exploded and in the process destroyed Naruto's restoring shields, but it killed the remaining Collectors on the platform and stunned the Scion. Naruto took aim with his pistol and blasted one of the Scion's body sacks off making it scream. Naruto roared and pushed his 9 tailed cloak to Version 2. He stood on all fours as dark red chakra swarmed around his body causing steam to pour off him. Lunging forward with a giant claw he slashed across the Scion. Blue liquid gushed out of it, and not a second later a patch of Chidori Senbon stabbed the Scion. After one last gargle, it crumbled and died. Naruto stepped over the Scion that was dissolving into a messy puddle and hopped across the platform again. Taking a deep breath, he returned to his normal state as Sasuke landed next to him.
"Naruto your face is burned," cried Tali.
"Side effect of the Version 2 state," he explained. "I'll be fine once we get back to the ship and can take this helmet off." Walking up to the glowing symbol on the platform, he re-established EDI's connection. After about a minute, the holographic form of EDI showed up.
"I have regained control of the platform Naruto."
"I thought we were going to have to fight every goddamn Collector here," shouted Zaeed.
"You are more than welcome to remove my AI shackles upon your return to the Normandy Mr. Masani." With EDI back in control, the platform came back to life and returned them to the main area of the ship. "I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 Relay. I have also found the Turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were the source. It is unusual."
"It seems logical that the Collectors would try to trap us," said Sasuke.
"You misunderstand. It is unusual because Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption; it is corrupted in their message. From what I can gather of his intelligence, it is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine.
"Are you sure," asked Tali.
"Positive. I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols. He wrote them."
"Wait wait," cried Joker. "He knew it was a trap?"
"Well fuck me," sighed Naruto putting his pistol on his hip. "The Illusive Man finally betrayed us. Who didn't see this coming?!"
"This is why I just wanted to sleep," moaned Zaeed.
"Naruto I have more bad new," cried Joker.
"Is there any other kind?"
"The Collector ship is powering up; you need to get the hell out of their before their ships weapons come on because I'm not losing another Normandy."
"I do not have full control of their systems. I will do what I can; sending coordinates for the shuttle."
"Joker send a small team down with the second shuttle," ordered Naruto. "And make sure that they keep the exit clear for us."
"Aye aye."
Grabbing their gear, everyone raced off the platform and headed for the exit. Unfortunately now, it seemed as though every damn Collector on the ship was aware of their presence now. Sasuke and Zaeed led the charge, while Naruto and Tali remained close to the back. Zaeed for his age was pretty fast. He ran throughout the ships pulling inferno grenades from every location on his body. Within seconds several Collector troops were a blaze. Sasuke was holding his sword in one hand, a pistol in the other, and both eyes blaring his Sharingan. His kills were on point. Stabs to the heart with a sword covered in Chidori, or a perfect shot right to the forehead with his gun. Tali with her powerful Geth shotgun had two Combat drones surrounding her. The purple drone Naruto now knew as "Chatika" was doing the attacking, while the unnamed white drone was staying near her protecting her shocking any Collector got too close. Naruto entered the Version 2 state again. Anytime a Collector got in his path, he cut them down showering his body with black blood. Upon turning the corner, the worst of all the Collectors could be seen floating.
"Son of a bitch," cried Zaeed. "It's a Praetorian."
The creature floated towards them slowly and everyone opened fire. It had a swirling purple barrier that prevented anything from getting through. Sasuke roared and shined with a purple aura. A second later he was wrapped within the ultimate defense: Susanoo. He batted away the Praetorian and it smashed into a wall. Naruto formed a wind Rasengan and jumped into the open hand of Susanoo. Sasuke flung him, and before he could collide into the monster, it sprung off the wall. The Praetorian's eyes glowed bright blue and out shot two lasers going for Tali. Sasuke's Susanoo was too far from her position, but thankfully Zaeed managed to tackle her down just in time. Sasuke began channeling his chakra and his Susanoo raised its sword and it was covered in black Amaterasu flames.
"Give me some cover," he yelled.
Naruto raised his index fingers and made two quick mini- Rasenshurikans, and Zaeed had two grenades in each hand. Everyone attacked at once in a blast of fire and wind. Amidst the smokescreen, Sasuke thrust his sword in. When the smoke cleared the Praetorian was floating in the air, impaled, covered in Amaterasu, but still alive. It blasted a blue light from its eyes. Sasuke raised his shield and held off the beam, but after so long Naruto could see cracks along the shield. It was going to shatter any second.
"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!"
The Praetorian was encased inside a cube shaped energy block. A white light blasted throughout the room and there was a high pitched shriek, and when the cube vanished, so had the Praetorian. A second later, Kiba wearing an oxygen breather flew into the center of the room high above everyone.
"Is everyone alright," he asked.
"We are now," replied Sasuke dropping Susanoo. "How far away are the shuttles?"
"They're right around the corner, c'mon!"
Kiba turned around and soared back the way he came everyone following him. All of the Collectors had vanished, but there were husks every where. Tali and Sasuke were at the front blasting and cutting away, while Naruto and Zaeed gave cover fire. Upon reaching the bottom, they could see Samara behind a pillar using an Avenger and her biotics. Ay was using his Lighting Armor moving from spot to spot killing husks: punching them, throwing them into walls, and just decimating them. Naruto turned around after hearing a buzzing noise. Collector forces were approaching fast, along with another Scion.
"We're outta time," Naruto shouted. "ONTO THE SHUTTLES!"
"Ay and I will buy use some time," cried Kiba. "Only get on one shuttle."
"What are you talki-"
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN JUST EVERYONE GET ON THE SAME SHUTTLE!"
Everyone clambered into one shuttle except for Kiba and Ay. Kiba touched the old man making his body weight extremely light, and then he did the same thing to the shuttle. Ay picked up the shuttle and threw it towards the small crevice the Collectors were coming from blocking them off before any got through. Then Kiba added weight to the shuttle making it impossible to move. Scooping Ay under his arms, the twosome flew into the shuttle and it took off. Nearly two minutes later it was on the Normandy.
"Collector ship weapons are preparing to fire," said EDI
"GET US OUT OF HERE EDI," ordered Naruto.
"Specify a location Naruto."
"I DON'T KNOW EDI… UM…ILLIUM! GET US BACK TO ILLUIM!"
Naruto and the others stepped out of the shuttle into the shuttle bay and could feel the Normandy swaying from side to side.
"Any fucking day now," snarled Ay falling to the ground.
"Engaging Mass Effect core." The Normandy stopped moving from side to side, and zoomed forward and then all was calm. "We have eluded the Collectors, and returned to the Athenian Nebula Naruto."
"Thank the Goddess for our safety," sighed Samara.
"Yeah well I prefer to thank the AI," said Zaeed taking his mask off.
"Well I hope that damn trip was worth it," said Ay sitting with his back against the shuttle.
"Naruto there is an incoming message from the Illusive Man."
"Time for a talk with that bastard," grumbled Kurama.
"Make sure to give him all our regards," said Sasuke as the elevator door was closing. The slowness of the elevator only seemed to increase the anger he was feeling currently at T.I.M. He stormed off the elevator once it landed on Deck 2, and rushed into the debriefing room. He stepped onto the connection cylinder and there was the Blue-Eyed Bastard sitting in his chair, smoking and drinking as usual.
"I've got one word for you," said Naruto starting the conversation. "Unfuckingbelievable!"
"You seem upset," he said blowing out a cloud of smoke.
"Upset is the wrong adjective for what I am; I am livid as fuck! You nearly got us all killed by sending us there, so you better have a damn good reason for doing it!"
"We needed information on the Omega 4 Relay. That required directed access to Collector data. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."
"I'll give you that, but why not just tell me?"
"Because I knew that you wouldn't willingly go to the Collector ship; especially since you and your crew aren't ready for a full scale fight against them. I put you at risk, yes. But without that information, we don't reach the Collector home world. And you and every other human in the galaxy may as well be dead."
"Whatever, what did you find out?"
"EDI confirmed our suspicions." He took a long deep puff from his cigarette before talking again. "The Reaper and Collector ships use an advanced heavy friend/foe system that the relays recognize. Now we just need to get one of them."
"And you couldn't tell me this while I was just aboard a damn Collector ship?"
"I told you EDI just confirmed it and you wouldn't have been able to find and extract it in time."
"So how are we going to find one?"
"An Alliance science team recently determined that the "Great Rift" on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact from a mass accelerator weapon. Mind you a very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find it and luckily they did. Doing some research they have managed to find a 37 million year old derelict Reaper. It's damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."
"What's a brown dwarf?"
"To put it lightly, it's a dead star. They're gas giants that don't quite have the masses of stars. When you eventually go there, expect gale force winds, and high temperatures. The Reaper's Mass Effect field is keeping it in orbit for the time being."
"Is there a time frame on getting this IFF?"
"The sooner the better, however the Reaper has been holding itself up for centuries so it isn't going to fall out of the sky if that's what you're wondering."
"Then if there is nothing else, I want something from you."
"And what might that be?"
"Information on where to find the Shadow Broker."
"And what makes you think I can find him?"
"Because you can find anything."
T.I.M. exhaled and a screen appeared next to him. He lazily stroked a few keys with for about a minute and a half before finally finishing.
"The data is on your information terminal," he said pouring himself some scotch.
"Thanks," replied Naruto. "And as a friendly gesture… don't endanger the lives of me and my friends again. Got it?"
T.I.M. nodded his head and cut the connection. Naruto extremely tired took the elevator back to his cabin. He now had to go to a Reaper that was technically dead, and download data from it while dodging the Collectors who were definitely going to want payback for his invasion of their ship. This damn mission never got any easier, but one good thing did come out of it. He opened T.I.M.'s info about the Broker and smiled.
"EDI," he said.
"Yes Naruto?"
"Send Liara T'Soni a message from me and ask her how much information about a Drell named Feron is worth to her."