Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect.

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Escaping Hades

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Chapter Ten

"Classified mission? I didn't issue him any orders." Admiral Hackett responded curiously over QEC connection, which only made Miranda even more suspicious. It had been two days since Naruto had left and she had been the only one present to answer Hackett's 'call', having been seeking the blonde haired Major. "He hasn't even been cleared for combat yet."

"That bastard. He lied to me..." She hissed under her breath, gripping the edges of the console in front of her out of anger and worry, but she managed to stay calm for the most past. Barely. "Do you know where he might have gone?"

"I'm sorry, I don't." The white haired naval officer responded before a thought occured to him. "Actually, now that you mention it...It might have something to do with your sister's disappearance..."

"Oriana?! What's happened to her?" Miranda suddenly demanded, her eyes wide with fear for her sister's life...

xXx

"Targets in sight. Awaiting signal." Azote whispered over the communicator, having taken up position a little ways away from their objective. A little closer to the main building was Naruto and Alpha Squad while Ta'meera, Natalia, and Centurion were to find a way in through a back entrance. Glancing at the four marines and nodding, Naruto, as well as Alpha Squad, readied the heavy weapons they had brought with them. Each of the marines had a ML-77 Missile Launcher while Naruto had a M-100 Grenade Launcher in his hands. Still kneeling down behind the low-lying wall as the marines split into two pairs and moved off to the sides to take up their next assigned positions, Naruto hacked into the building's systems, targeting the fire alarm system. Triggering it, the sound of the alarm rang loud through the area for a few moments before civilians started pouring out of the building. Hacking the security cameras, Naruto waited until the last civilian had safely evacuated the building a minute later before raising his grenade launcher. Firing a handful of exposive canisters at the front entrance, the explosions completely shattered the weak armor-glass wall and gave the others the opportunity they needed.

"Fire!" Naruto barked out over the radio before four rockets shot into the lobby, leveling several different low-lying walls and desks while the resulting shrapnel killed several of the Cerberus Assault Troopers stationed in the room, the initial concussive blastwave of each explosion claiming the lives of a few as well. A moment later, a Centurion that just entered the lobby dropped to the ground, a rather large hole having been punched through his head by Azote's sniper rifle. "Hold position."

A few moments later, more Cerberus soldiers started rushing into the lobby, instantly taking cover behind anything usable as a defensive position. Smirking viciously behind his helmet as he finished reloading the grenade launcher, Naruto propped it up on the low wall in front of him before emptying the heavy weapon into the lobby, the time-delayed grenades bouncing around and over the Cerberus troops' defensive barriers. While they started scattering for cover, Alpha Squad fired another volley of rockets into the lobby just as the grenades went off, the numerous explosions resonating with one another and forming a single massive blast that completely leveled everything in the lobby.

"Alright. Move up." Naruto ordered while dropping the grenade launcher, replacing it with the Typhoon mounted to his back between his Mattock and Raptor before standing up and shouldering the heavy rifle as he cautiously moved around the wall and moved towards the lobby. Alpha Squad, weilding their own Typhoons and mirroring him, came in from both sides while Azote was swiftly making his way down towards them, ducked down with his Black Widow mounted to his back and one of his Predator pistols grasped in his hands. As they set foot in the lobby itself, Naruto jabbed two fingers to the left and then to the right, causing the four marines to spread out while Naruto pointed at a door set along the left wall closer to the back. "Azote, get started on that door. You have thirty seconds."

"At once." The salarian ex-STG acknowledged before he quickly made his way to the access pad mounted to the wall beside the armored security door.

"Ta'meera. Sitrep." Naruto inquired sharply over the radio.

"Snafu." The quarian answered sarcastically, though it wasn't far from the truth; SNAFU, Situation Normal: All Fucked Up. "We're in, but we didn't get very far before we encountered our own little welcoming party. Unlike you assholes, we don't have any heavy weapons to clear the way for us."

"Just be glad we drew the majority of their attention." Naruto answered before hearing the sequential fire of two Typhoons behind him, making him spin around and shoulder his own machine gun. "Speaking of which, we have company."

Catching something out of the corner of his eye, Naruto cursed and spun to his right while kneeling down behind what remained of a low-lying wall. Three Kodiak shuttles were dropping off more troops out front while others were trying to get in through a door on the other side of the lobby, though they were pinned down by Arcaino and Romanov. To his right, Diangelo was positioned next to Azote to give him better protection while Vasquez slid into position next to the Major, already shouldering his rifle. Simultaneously, they both squeezed the triggers to their Typhoons and opened fire on the new reinforcements, quickly mowing them down and even tearing into one of the Kodiak shuttles, killing the pilot and causing the vehicle to crash into the side of the building, tearing through the wall around the third floor.

"Azote! How's that door coming along?!" Naruto barked out over his shoulder without looking away from the now-missing front wall of the lobby, already hearing the distinct sound of more Kodiak engines in the area. A moment later, the salarian cracked the access code and opened the doors, calling out to them that it was open. Immediately, Arcaino and Romanov started backing away from the side doorway while still keeping the Cerberus troops pinned down. While they did that, Diangelo tossed a couple smoke grenades to cover their retreat just as Naruto and Vasquez threw a couple grenades each towards the doorway, all six of them slipping into the next room as the canisters exploded and killed a handful of enemy soldiers. "Azote, seal that door! Romanov, Diangelo! Rear Guard! Vasquez, Arcaino! With me!"

After a few moments of waiting for Azote to finish locking the door down to keep the Cerberus soldiers behind them from following, the group started moving through the hallway with Naruto, Vasquez, and Arcaino as the forward guard while Azote, Romanov, and Diangelo made up the rear guard. Upon reaching the end of the hall a few moments later, Naruto turned to face the group.

"Stay frosty, everyone. Cerberus has been messing with Reaper technology, so there's no telling what kind of horrors are in here." The blonde cautioned before turning back around while Azote worked on hacking into the door system again. "Let's just hope none of it is here..."

xXx

"Damn it! They just don't quit!" Ta'meera snapped angrily before running out from behind cover and kicking off the opposite wall in the hallway. Flipping over the Cerberus soldier that had gotten too close to her hiding spot, Ta'meera fired only a short three-shot burst into the man's head, killing him instantly. Landing on her feet a moment later and ducking down into a shoulder roll, the Quick Quarian kicked off the wall beside her to send herself sliding back to the other side, taking cover in a small room, most likely a supply room or storage closet of some kind that the now-deceased Cerberus trooper had been using for cover a moment ago. A little further back, Centurion was advancing at a slow and steady pace behind Ta'meera, its advanced armor and upgraded kinetic barrier allowing the self-aware synthetic to shrug off most of the shots from the simple Hornet submachine guns and Harrier assault rifles being used by the Cerberus forces they were faced with. "Hey! Throw a frag already!"

"Unable to comply. This platform is out of grenades." Centurion answered before removing its left hand from the front underbelly of its Pulse rifle to grab the chest plate of a Cerberus Centurion, lifting the man off the ground and smashing him back against the wall, killing him. Reaching down, Centurion retrieved two of the smoke grenades on the man's belt before setting them and tossing them further down the hall. As the smoke fogged up the hallway, the Geth Prime switched out its Pulse rifle for the Javelin sniper rifle on its back, shouldering the powerful rifle and charging up a shot as it lined up the cross hairs of the scope with the chest of another Cerberus squad leader hidden within the thick grey miasma. Like a bolt of lightning, the super-heated ferro-fluid streaked toward the chosen target before easily going straight through the man's chest and hitting an Engineer in the head just as he tried to set up a turret. A moment later, the Prime grabbed two regular grenades and tossed them down the hall as well, gathering a few more for later as the two explosive devices went off, killing a handful of the clustered soldiers in the process. "Begin counter-defense strategies, Ta'meera. This platform will provide cover."

"You better!" The quarian spat back as she dove across the hall to another room, which was an office of some kind. She didn't care who it belonged to or whatever, she just needed the computer. Setting her Locusts on the desk on either side of the computer, Ta'meera started hacking into the mainframe as fast as she could, trying to take control of all of the security programs and any defenses. "I'm in! Security cameras; mine. Defensive turrets; mine. Loki security mechs; mine. Ymir security mechs; mine. Cerberus; locked out! Stupid bosh'tets need to upgrade their firewalls and cybernetic defense matrix programs. That was just pathetic."

Before she could get out of the chair she was in, a Cerberus Assault Trooper burst through the side door with his submachine gun aimed at the quarian. Before he could squeeze the trigger, however, the monomolecular blade of a Phantom's sword cleaved through his wrists as the assassin's cloaking device deactivated, revealing the black and grey clad form of Natalia before she turned towards Ta'meera and drove her sword into the man's chest behind her. Yanking her sword free while casually elbowing the dead man to knock him back, the woman flicked her sword to the side slightly to shed it of the blood that coated it before spinning around to face back towards the doorway the soldier had come from, crouching down as she did while raising her right hand, Palm Blaster ready while her sword was flipped into a reverse grip in her left hand. The moment her knee touched down on the ground, a red pulse of light shot forward and slammed into the head of another simple Assault Trooper, killing him instantly.

"Don't stop. Time is short and our enemies are many." Natalia spoke up, her voice quiet and sharp like a serpent's hiss. A moment later, she vanished from her spot as her cloaking device reactivated, hiding her from sight as she disappeared back into the fray. Scoffing at the woman's 'arrogance', Ta'meera snatched up her Locusts and leaned back out into the hallway, firing at the Cerberus soldiers that were trying to hold them at bay with little to no success. As the Locusts clicked from their thermal clips being used up, the Quick Quarian, instead of reloading them, mag-locked them behind her waist while drawing the black Predator pistols hidden by her chaps. They were perfectly balanced, rather light-weight despite being heavily modified, and had twice the stopping power as most other heavy pistols with half the recoil and a capacity of almost twenty shots before the thermal clips had to be replaced due to unique heat dispersal vents built into the weapons near the muzzles reducing the amount of heat the thermal clips had to soak up.

'Fox really knows his guns.' Ta'meera thought with a hidden smirk as she stepped out from the doorway, sprinting forward and weaving back and forth through the hall to avoid incoming gun fire. In only a small handful of seconds, Ta'meera cleared the gap between her previous position and the Cerberus ranks, letting her mind go blank as her old title held true; the Quick Quarian. With the slightest of muscle movements, she dodged bullets at point blank range, causing the Cerberus soldiers to unwittingly fire on their own comrades, all while her own pistols barked with gun fire. Spinning to her left to avoid being shot in the head by a Centurion's Harrier rifle, Ta'meera pressed the muzzle of her right Predator to the man's left temple, the shot punching completely through his helmet and skull while she ducked down under the staggered gun fire of a Hornet submachine gun, her left pistol already trained on her chosen target. With one shot, the Assault Trooper's left knee was blown out, dropping him to the ground with a cry of pain as Ta'meera adjusted her footing and center of balance before front-flipping without using her hands, firing one shot into the downed Assault Trooper's head with her left pistol while her right was extended to follow the linear path of her body, firing off two shots that killed two soldiers; one behind her and one in front of her.

Landing lightly on her feet, Ta'meera instantly dropped into a shoulder roll while sliding her guns across the floor, flawlessly flowing into a handspring that propelled her at a Guardian. While in mid-air, she drew the foot long monomolecular-bladed knife sheathed at her right knee and thrust it through the narrow slot of the soldier's armored shield, piercing the left eye lense of the man's helmet and killing him, only to withdraw it and spin to her left, dodging what would have been a headshot from a Nemesis's Raptor sniper rifle while throwing her knife at the woman. The blade found its mark in the woman's neck. Kicking off the wall beside her while dropping into a crouch, Ta'meera slid across the ground between the legs of an Assault Trooper, picking up her Predator pistols as she slid behind the man, firing a single shot into the back of the man's head while firing a shot straight up, the bullet drilling through the unprotected soft flesh under a Centurion's chin and punching a hole through the top of his helmet. Rolling to the side to avoid having the corpse fall on top of her, Ta'meera took cover in another supply closet, breathing heavily as she leaned back against the wall.

"Kee'lah...I need to get back in shape." Ta'meera wrasped out between ragged pants, taking the time to reload her pistols and submachine guns while Centurion advanced now that a lot of the initial resistance had been reduced greatly, Natalia's position still unknown. "I haven't had to move like that since me and Fox used to run together..."

xXx

"Thank you for coming, Shepard." Miranda spoke up as soon as Naomi stepped out of the Kodiak shuttle currently docked in the Troy's hangar. "I need your help with something."

"What happened?" The auburn haired Commander inquired, getting a look from Miranda that was a cross between worry and anger.

"It's Naruto. He left earlier, saying he was on a top secret mission for Admiral Hackett, but I just talked with Hackett a couple hours ago; Naruto was never given any orders. He's still on sick-leave." The black haired woman explained, just barely stopping herself from pacing back and forth or from crying in her distress. "We think he's gone for a place called Sanctuary on Horizon, where my sister was last rumored to be heading for. He looked like he was going to war, Naomi."

"Do you want me to shoot him in the ass when I see him or should I leave the honors to you after dragging him back here?" Naomi playfully asked after a couple seconds, making Miranda actually laugh a little bit despite the situation. "So, Horizon, you say? Last I heard, there were rumors of Reapers being out in that area. He took back-up with him, right?"

"Yeah. He took a squad of marines and a few others in the Trojan Horse, but...I have a bad feeling about this." Miranda explained, surprising Naomi a little bit. In her experience, it took quite a bit to worry the black haired woman in front of her. "I think Cerberus might be involved. It's the only explanation I can come up with as to why Naruto would lie to me about where he was going. I would take the Troy and go myself, but I just found out that the Troy's temporarily out of order while the engineering crews are installing a new system of some kind, one of Naruto's new creations."

"Alright. I'll go check things out." Naomi agreed while gently patting Miranda on the side of her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll find him and bring him back to you alive and in one piece."

"Thanks, Shepard." Miranda responded, giving the Commander a weak smile of appreciation. "I owe you one."

"No, Naruto owes me for this." The red head corrected. "Knowing him, I'm going to have to pull his ass out of the fire."

xXx

"BRUTE INBOUND!" Arcaino exclaimed over the chaotic symphony of heavy gunfire, the five Alliance marines and salarian ex-STG having encountered Reaper occupation not long after sealing the door behind them. A lot of Reaper occupation. Most of it was comprised of basic Human-type Husks, but they had encountered a number of the other types along the way.

"ARCAINO! VASQUEZ! STAGGER GUARD! DIANGELO! ROMANOV! TRIPLE THREAT!" Naruto called out while Diangelo and Romanov ran from the back of the group to opposite sides of the thankfully wide corridor with Arcaino and Vasquez situated between them and Naruto, who was positioned in the middle of the hall. As Naruto, Diangelo, and Romanov opened fire on the Brute's chest with their Typhoons, Arcaino and Vasquez opened fire on the charging horde of Husks, mowing them down with their own heavy rifles as Azote provided support with his twin Predators, one-shotting Husks that got too close to the others. In only a handful of seconds, the Krogan-Turian hybrid monstrousity finally dropped under such heavy resistance, collapsing in mid-charge and sliding to a halt in front of Naruto, crushing a half dozen Husks in the process. Pulling out a pair of grenades with his left hand, the Major thumbed the buttons on them before tossing them into the horde of bio-mechanical 'zombies', calling a warning out to his comrades as he did. "THROWING FRAGS!"

The resulting explosion cleared out about half of the horde near the back. As the group of six focused back on the Husks, the horde was quickly whittled down to nothing within a minute. Once the last one dropped, they all immediately started reloading before taking inventory of their equipment. After a quick comparison, Naruto scowled behind his helmet.

"Shit. Not even half-way to the target and we're just shy of half ammo." The Major growled out as he mounted his Typhoon to his back.

"We're almost out of grenades, too." Diangelo commented solemnly; being a lover of explosions and anything that went 'boom', it was a little saddening to him.

"Major, I may be able to find a faster route to the office." Azote spoke up, already accessing a terminal mounted to the wall. Just as Naruto was about to turn to face him, the communicator crackled to life in his ear.

"Fox! We got Reapers!" Ta'meera barked out, the sounds of gunfire and the general noise of chaos roaring in the background.

"Yes, I know. We ran into them as well." The blonde responded sourly.

"A little warning would have been nice!" The quarian hollered back, obviously pissed about not getting a heads up about the Reaper presence. "Damn it! They just don't stop coming!"

"Azote! Locate Ta'meera and the others!" Naruto barked out at the salarian, who immediately diverted from finding another route to locating the others that had come with them. "Hang in there, Ta'meera! We're on the way!"

"Well, you better hurry, Fox!" She barked back, the signal starting to break up a little. "Kee'lah..."

"Ta'meera? Ta'meera!" Naruto snapped, only to hear static. "Shit! Where is she?!"

"Rear loading bay hangar. There is interference with the camera feed, but I am seeing a lot of Reapers in the area." Azote responded before spotting something on another camera feed. "Major. Oriana has been located. She's being held hostage by Henry Lawson at gun point. They are located in the main control office of the west wing laboratories."

"Fuck! Alpha Squad!" Naruto barked out as Azote passed the information over to the blonde's Omni-tool, the four marines snapping to attention. "Find the others, clear out the Reapers, come find me. I'm going after Oriana."

"But, sir-" Vasquez started to argue, only to find the barrel of Naruto's Talon held in front of his face.

"No time. Just do it!" Naruto snapped fiercely before holstering his pistol and pulling out his combat knives before running off in one direction, only to jump up and bury the blades in the wall, using them to climb up to a higher floor. As he stopped beside a window, Naruto pulled out a Hornet from behind his waist and shot out the weak armor-glass before holstering the weapon once more. While he climbed into the office and replaced his knives with his Mattock, Alpha Squad was heading down a different path towards the hangar the other three of their assault group were located in.

"..." Azote was silent as they left before stepping away from the terminal. Bringing up his Omni-tool and glancing at his map, the ex-STG operative ran forward and jumped up, grabbing onto a lip of metal that once held a vent cover, which had been shot out of place during the one-sided shoot-out a few minutes ago. Climbing into the vent, Azote was forced to crouch quite low, but thanks to his slender build, it wasn't exactly uncomfortable. Just...inconvenient. Drawing one of his Predators, the skull-faced salarian continued on his way, crawling through the ventalation system...

xXx

"Miranda wasn't joking..." Naomi mumbled quietly to herself as she, Garrus, and EDI entered Sanctuary's main lobby. "Naruto definitely meant business."

"It looks like a war zone in here." Garrus commented as he knelt down and picked up a spent thermal clip, the disposable heat sink looking far more melted than what would normally occur. "What could have caused this?"

"That was used in a N7 Typhoon light machine gun. They're the only weapons that cause such extensive heat damage to thermal clips when in use." EDI explained, getting a look of mild surprise from Commander Shepard. "Judging from the number of them, there were five of them, each using only one clip's worth of shots; an average capacity of one hundred shots per thermal clip."

"Come on, let's keep moving. We don't have much time." Naomi suggested, cradling her red and grey camouflage Geth Pulse Rifle in her arms, an old souvenir from back when she first came into command of the Normandy. That's when she spotted something. "EDI. Cross check the building's floor plan's with the security camera footage. I want to know what's behind that sealed door and where it leads."

"Yes, Commander." The AI-controlled gynoid responded before accessing a surprisingly still operational terminal in the corner of the room. "It leads to the laboratories. There are signs of previous heavy Reaper activity, but now it is mostly light or non-existent."

"'Previous' Reaper activity?" Naomi questioned in confusion.

"They've already been cleared out." EDI responded before showing Shepard a live camera feed of the areas on the other side of the door. She had a hard time just trying to see the floor beneath the dead Husks...

"Naruto's handiwork, no doubt." Shepard muttered before glancing back at the sealed door. "Let's get started on that door. We're running short on time."

xXx

"Get. Out. Of. My. WAY!" Naruto snarled, punctuating every word with a step forward and a shot fired from his Mattock rifle into the head of a Husk as they charged at him rabidly from the end of the hall. Thankfully, they were all he was faced with at the moment, being in what seemed like an office section, but he wasn't willing to jinx himself and get stuck facing something tougher. Crawling and clawing over each other just to get at the lone armored Major, the Husks never noticed the handful of black armored Loki mechs approaching from behind him, their Predators whining as they were primed and pointed at the Husks' backs. Spotting them, Naruto grinned viciously behind his helmet as he kicked a Husk in the chest to shove back the whole 'front line' while switching his Mattock out for the Hornets holstered to his thighs. Thumbing the fire-selection switch to semi-auto, Naruto started ventilating the skulls of the abominations anxiously trying to get a hold of him. They reminded him so much of old zombie movies and seeing its equivalent in real life was very creepy to him. When one jumped at him when he holstered a Hornet for a one-handed reload, Naruto hastily grabbed it by the neck, leaning back slightly as it started clawing at his helmet. "Oi! What'd I tell you earlier?! No! Scratching! No! Biting!"

Punctuating each of his words with a pistol whip, Naruto shoved the well-concussed Husk back while switching the Hornet in his hand to fully automatic, mowing down the Husks in the front of the horde to give him a few more feet of breathing room. Getting just enough extra time to reload his Hornets, Naruto switched back to one-skill kills. He was not happy with this. Knowing Miranda, she was going to sic her 'pit bull', Naomi, on him and the red head was going to chew his ass out before Miranda ripped him a new asshole, but he was going to give Oriana a piece of his mind the first chance he got. Preferably before his girlfriend verbally castrated him. He was supposed to be lying up in bed with the love of his life, preferably with them both naked, but no! He was stuck with a bunch of creepy synthetic-organic zombies, absolutely drenched in their disgusting green-ish blood from head to toe, and was pretty sure one of them had touched him innappropriately...

"God, damn it! Get off me!" Naruto snarled as he kicked his leg, sending the top half of a legless Husk into the wall when it grabbed on to his ankle and tried to bite him before shooting it in the head, only to resume mercilessly slaughtering the indoctrinated humans. Or rather, what used to be humans... "Ah, hell no! You did not just spit blood at me!"

He was most definitely not having a good time...

xXx

"You're late!" Ta'meera snapped angrily as they were joined by Alpha Squad, the four heavily armored and armed marines shouldering their Typhoons and swiftly putting down the few dozen remaining Husks in the hallway intersection. To their left, Centurion was pulling a monomolecular wrist blade out of the back of a Brute's skull, the blade retracting back into the Prime's right forearm as it hopped off the dead behemoth's back and picked up his fallen Pulse Rifle. To their right, Natalia stood vigilant, sword still drawn and Palm Blaster glowing a fierce red, ready to be fired at a moment's notice. Reloading her guns as the marines did the same with their Typhoons, Ta'meera took notice of two missing individuals. "Where's Fox and the Salarian?"

"Major Uzumaki went after Oriana by himself while we came to provide back-up. As for Azote...We thought he was right behind us." Vasquez answered before looking to the three other members of Alpha Squad. "Did any of you see where Azote went?"

"Negative, sir." Diangelo responded, Arcaino and Romanov shaking their heads slightly as well. Ta'meera narrowed her eyes behind her mask in aggravation; he needed to stop solo-ing.

"We must keep moving." Natalia commented with hints of urgency in her voice as she approached them. Getting nods of agreement from a few members in the group, they started heading back in Naruto's general direction...

xXx

"..." Azote remained silent as he continued moving through the ventilation system. Reaching another intersection, the salarian's Omni-tool flared to life before he brought up a three dimensional map of the area. Deactivating it, he continued moving forward, onlyto spot what looked like a shadow dart by further ahead of him. Dismissing it as his eyes playing tricks on him, the ex-STG sniper continued moving along, heading for a specific spot in the ventilation system to properly cover the Major. After a few minutes, however, he started getting a feeling that something wasn't right. As he turned left at another intersection, Azote caught movement out of the corner of his eye, one his Predators instantly drawn and trained on the source, his reflexes and training allowing him to hit his mark despite not looking at the target fully. Approaching the downed being, Azote could only stare in shock. It looked like a Pyjak, only...mutated and disfigured with Reaper tech. "This is not good..."

Hearing something behind him, Azote instantly rolled over onto his back and aimed down the ventilation system, leaning up slightly to see properly. Eyes narrowing, the salarian returned to his original objective. He had limited time to reach the target destination to provide the Major with proper back-up, but with the emergence of this new enemy...Things were going to get difficult and very fast...

xXx

"Ugh...I'll never get rid of this horrid stench." Naruto groaned in disgust as he stepped over the last of the Husk corpses and into the elevator, hitting the button to the proper floor. Bits of synthetic-organic gore were splattered all over him, their dark green blood dousing him from head to toe, both literally dripping off of his armored frame. Wiping the face of his helmet with his right hand, he stared at the gore with a grimace before flicking his hand to rid his armored glove of the grotesque ichor. He had quite the...adventure. Three hordes of a hundred-plus Husks, four Brutes he had to take on by himself, twelve Ravagers, three Banshees, and one very pissed off Reaper-indoctrinated Varren, of all things. "I can't believe it...My luck fucking sucks!"

Ding!

"What?!" Someone exclaimed in shock before firing a shot at the armored Alliance officer, the bullet striking him in the shoulder, but doing nothing more than stumbling him and making him fall back in his exhausted and unprepared state. In reaction, the blonde's right hand gripped the Hornet on his thigh and shot the shooter, unintentionally hitting them in the same shoulder he was shot in. Groaning as he clambered to his feet, Naruto got a good look at the man he shot and could only blink in surprise, Henry Lawson clutching his right shoulder in pain as he tried crawling back over to the gun he had dropped. Before he could grab it, Oriana ran over and picked it up, pointing it at the wounded man with trembling hands. "You...bitch! How dare you-Argh!"

"Oh, quit your bitchin'! I didn't kick you that hard." Naruto snapped back, feeling rather foul tempered at the moment and being none too happy with everything that had gone on throughout the day. He then turned to Oriana and snatched the Predator pistol out of her hands. "Give me that! Do you know how much bullshit I had and still have to go through to find you without your sister finding out?! Huh?!"

"Miranda?" She muttered softly, though cowed by the gore-splattered officer's words.

"Consider yourself special. Not only are you on my 'Nice List', but you're also on my shit list because of this little stunt of yours, which is going to result in me getting banished from sleeping in the bed when I get back for who knows how long!" Naruto ranted, blatantly ignoring how Henry grabbed at his ankle, probably in a futile attempt to regain control of the situation. In response, Naruto shot the floor next to Henry's head without looking, scaring the man into stopping and flinching away, all while the blonde kept ranting. "Not just that! I'm going to be getting my ass chewed out by two more than likely cranky women after this. One being my girlfriend and the other being her damn rabid pit bull of a friend, who I'm pretty sure has lock-jaw! That means, once this is all over and done with, I'm not going to have anything left of my ass to sit on when this is over with because of you!"

"Pit bull, huh?" Someone asked from behind him, making Naruto flinch at the woman's tone. "Is that what you really think of me, Naruto?"

"Hey, Shepard. What brings you here?" Naruto returned, trying and failing to sound innocent. He simply grinned nervously behind his helmet and held his hands up slightly in mock surrender when Naomi continued glaring at him. "Yeah, stupid question..."

"Where are the others? Miranda said you brought back-up." Naomi inquired before spotting something going on outside in the corner of her eye, which Naruto also spotted...and almost laughed at. Azote was on the roof of the Sanctuary building punting Pyjak-looking things over the edge. Even from their place in the tower, Naruto could still see the obvious displeasure and irritation written across the Salarian's face as he swung his Widow rifle like a club, sending another Pyjak into three others, sending all four tumbling over the edge. Getting a gut feeling, Naomi gave Naruto a blank stare. "I take it he's with you?"

"Yeah...What the hell are those things, though?" Naruto answered before asking, honestly confused about the little creatures. After watching Azote shoot the last handful with a Predator, Naruto focused back on the situation at hand and walked over to the elevator, grabbing Henry by the ankle before he could step into the elevator and pulled his foot out from under him, making him fall straight to the ground and not only aggravate his wounded shoulder, but also smack his face into the floor. Dragging the man behind him back to where he was as the Cerberus loyalist screamed in pain, Naruto couldn't help feeling irritated all over again. "What do you want to do about this thing?"

"I was sent here only to retrieve you and the others." Naomi answered, knowing about the three Lawons' history with one another. She nodded her helmeted head at Oriana a moment later. "It's up to her to decide."

"...Well?" Naruto questioned vaguely as he looked to Oriana. She seemed conflicted for a moment before looking at the Major and silently nodding her head. Understanding the unspoken verdict, Naruto nodded back in return. "Alright. Go with the Commander. I'll catch up in a minute."

"Wha-What?! Don't leave me alone with this maniac! Oriana!" Henry called out as Naomi and Oriana stepped into the elevator, the younger Lawson 'twin' simply staring at her 'father' with an apathetic stare one would sooner see on the face of a veteran soldier than on a civilian woman. A moment later, the elevator doors shut. "Oriana!"

"Shut up." Naruto growled out coldly as he reached up and started taking his helmet off, wanting the man to see the face of his killer. Setting the helmet down on a nearby desk, Naruto gripped the Predator pistol once more, staring down at the heavy pistol with apathy. Behind him, while Naruto was 'distracted', Henry stood up and quietly picked up one of the light-weight metal chairs near him, gritting his teeth and biting back a cry of pain as his shoulder burned with agony once more. Before he could hit the armored Major with the chair, Naruto spun around and kicked the man in the chest, launching him backwards into another desk in the room, the chair clattering to the ground. Calmly stalking towards Henry with a scowl of cold fury, Naruto narrowed his eyes at Henry as he struggled to get back to his feet. Left behind on the desk beside his helmet was the Predator pistol. "I won't lie, Henry. I'm going to enjoy making you beg for death before I finish you off."

"AHH!" Henry screamed in absolute agony a moment later when Naruto suddenly kicked the man in his left knee, dislocating the joint with a sickening crunch and sending the man back to the floor once again. Henry wasn't given the time to recover before Naruto reached down and grabbed the man with both hands, only to lift him up over his head and slam him down on the desk beside him, making the man scream in pain once more. Little did they notice, Naruto's eyes had turned red like they usually would when using his Biotics, only he wasn't tapping into that power and his pupils thinned and stretched into black razor-thin slits...

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