Here it is. Chapter 35.
It took quite a long time, yes. But I've been going through my story. Correcting all the grammar mistakes and misspellings I could find, as well as rewriting more than just a few lines. A few additions can be found as well. Have been much more thorough than last time, all to make it easier on the eyes.
Hope you like the results. And my thanks to the people who recently reviewed, it helped big time. Now, without any further ado, hope you continue to enjoy the story.
"Okay, tell me again. And this time, slowly." Onoki rumbled as he rubbed his temples. Hidan and Kurotsuchi had finally gotten back, dragging along an unconscious Nagato. Why did it feel like he had gone and done something reckless? Did he have something to do with the Collector base sudden collapsing?
"Aw come on, ya old fart!" Hidan hissed at him as he and his mate pulled the unconscious man deeper into the ship, towards it's rather poorly equipped med-bay. "He went away one minute while we went to the shuttle, and the idiot disappeared. Only to return after the whole place went under along with the Karakorum."
"Then he fainted. And we got stuck carrying him back." Kurotsuchi continued for him.
"Pulling..." Hidan insisted. "Back there, we carried him. Here, hell no."
"Ah, shut up." the woman replied with a shrug.
Onoki could barely keep up with the pace of the youngsters on foot and eventually decided to hover instead, quickly catching up to them. "You should have kept an eye on him."
"What the hell for?" Hidan shook his head as he helped hauling Nagato onto one of the beds within the med-bay, the one closest to the door. "He can take care of himself just fine. Don't need me to babysit him."
Onoki sighed in a gruff manner.. "That's what I expected you to do. But no, you're an idiot. What in the world did my granddaughter see in you?"
"I am standing right here, grandpa!" the woman uttered in annoyance. "As for why I like him.."
The old man grumbled to himself about the brashness of youth.
"Shit, just listen!" Hidan hissed at him.
A slow muttering could dimly be heard.
"It was a poor choice to begin with, you loving a guy like him." the old man continued.
Hidan barely kept himself from shouting at him.. "What was that!"
"Just... shut up... you guys." Nagato's voice could finally be heard. "My ears... are ringing."
Onoki went to hover next to Nagato's bed, looking down at him. "How are you holding up, lad?" he offered the question, a chill still remaining in his tone.
"Not... well." Nagato coughed. "Think I exerted more effort than I thought I could afford."
"That you did, whatever the hell happened down there." Onoki sighed.
"What I did to end up in this state... I don't need to describe. Other than the result... that is."
"What are you talking about?"
"I found out about the location of Cerberus' secret base. The one they use to pull our kind from death's door."
Kurotsuchi was about to say something when Onoki hushed her down. "You're certain?"
"Yes." Nagato replied firmly... "We can go and take that place right away, once we're done here."
The old man fell silent as he landed into a chair not far away, reclining himself against it. Unable to find the words that matched his thoughts.
"Where is it. Where's that base located?" Shikamaru asked through the intercom, having eavesdropped on their conversation. Sounding just as stunned as the rest of them.
"Armstrong cluster. The rest of the coordinates are just a set of numbers, I'll provide the coordinates later." Nagato answered quietly. "If you can, notify the others. Every one of them will want to know... " his voice lowered into a whisper as the man fell asleep from exhaustion.
An aircraft crashed nearby as Shepard and his team left the confines of a Turian APC as the current wave of natives arrived at the front lines to drive away the Collectors that are occupying sections of the city. His eyes on the crashed Fighter craft as the Collectors shot it down before kicking a door open in the partially demolished building they just arrived at, shooting a Husk's head off as it reared it's ugly head at him just past the entrance. The others following closely while hundreds of heavily armed Turians moved around outside, huge numbers of infantry along with armored vehicles moving into position.
Shepard and the others moved through the corridors of the building, shooting down anything that attempted to challenge them on the way. The forces in this location had ended up head-first against a heavily fortified barricade, and he moved up to help thinning the enemy ranks from up high. Several Turian snipers and soldiers followed them in, but moving up to different floors. Shooting could be heard everywhere as Husks kept appearing.
He looked over his shoulder as Tali leaned out of a window and shot once at an unseen target below, leaning back when a heavy amount of gunfire gruffly answered her greetings. "We need to go a little further!" she called out.
"There's a large hole up ahead, we go there, take cover and kill as many of those bastards as possible before their heavies deploy against us. After that happens, we relocate and repeat." Shepard called out the plan quickly before beckoning for the rest to follow him in.
The 'hole' was nothing but what remained of the part of the building razed earlier by artillery. The team quickly positioned themselves behind the most available cover, finding themselves overlooking the barricade down on the street where a massive number of Collectors stood firing at the Turians trying to break through the position.
Shepard hefted his grenade launcher and launched a trio of grenades into the gathering of enemies below. He watched as the grenades hit and detonated, killing more than a dozen of the Collectors. Striking confusion into the insects as a greater number started looking for whatever ambushed them. Only for an additional grenade to fall down, followed by a rain of bullets as Mordin and Tali alongside the Turians whom managed to get into position by the windows in several places opened fire. Even more of the aliens perishing as they attempted to retaliate.
This pressure allowed the Turians in the street to rush the enemy position even as a number of Praetorians hovered into sight, taking aim and striking back at the onrushing Turians while the rest started to work down the ones taking pot shots from the building, forcing many to relocate, including Shepard's team. "Go on, move move move!" The Commander hollered as they hurried out of the line of fire. He took one last glimpse over the current area as one of the Praetorians was taken down by a single shot coming from a Turian tank that rumbled into sight to assist the infantry.
"Shepard. Down there." Mordin called out, pointing down towards the street, where a team of Turians moved in through the alley in an attempt to flank the Collectors holding the neighboring street. Several of which saw the aliens coming and tried to slaughter them while they still remained in that narrow space before they could get clear.
Shepard rushed to the window and took aim alongside the others while the Collectors down below opened fire. The lead Turian howled a response as he gunned down the closest Collector to his location before reaching out to the sides as the rain of bullets impacted with his barriers. Howling in defiance as his shield broke, allowing the bullets to impact his own body. Those behind him making haste as they detonated a large hole into the side of the building and rushed in while he held the line. He managed to hold his position for three full seconds, flashing a vague smile of triumph as the excessive damage to his body claimed his life. Successfully protecting his comrades whom all managed to find some cover and fiercely responded to avenge their friend's death.
Several of the insect aliens fell as from the resulting crossfire, both from the Turians before them and those up in the building. Shepard blowing away the rest with a well-placed grenade.
Shepard paused, his gaze directed towards the corpse of the soldier whom bravely protected his squad in such a manner. Letting himself marvel at such bravery before the sounds of continued battle drew him back.
"We need to keep going, let's get down there." Shepard told the others firmly. Both Tali and Mordin nodding as all three turned and hurried to the stairs, gunning down every Husk that attempted to intercept them.
Once they started moving down, they found a lone Turian near the bottom, trying desperately to fight off a Scion. Firing a shotgun at it point-blank. But the synthetic merely blasted it with a biotic shock-wave, smashing the alien into a messy pulp. Shepard immediately fired a grenade at the monstrosity and watched as the resulting explosion vaporized the organic bag on it's shoulder. Along with it's left arm. But the Scion tried to rush towards Shepard until Mordin froze the right leg and remaining arm with a cryo blast and shattered them with a couple of well-placed bullets.
They advanced down the rest of the flight after having killed the Scion. Followed soon by a number of Collectors moving in to attack them. Tali without hesitation shot the closest one in the head, the others firing as well in unison even as a score of bullets impacted their kinetic barriers.
An explosion interrupted the exchange however as fire billowed into the hallway and destroyed the aliens before them. With no other enemy in the vicinity, they left the building, finding that the assistance had come from a Tank just forty feet from their position. It's turret swiveled to face another enemy position before a Praetorian hovered into sight and set down on top of the Tank, forcing it's hatch open before firing down into the vehicle's interior, killing the crew within even as a number of infantry attempted to force the synthetic away from the vehicle, only to see their bullets bounce off it's barrier.
It turned it's attention towards them and worked to kill the soldiers in turn until several Fighters rushed past their position overhead, one of them hit by a yellow beam, the wing torn off by that one prolonged shot, causing the aircraft to spin as it fell off course, crashed through a nearby building below and ended it's trip by smashing itself against the Tank and the Praetorian. The resulting explosion claiming all three of them.
It all happened so fast that Shepard couldn't do anything about it. Instead, he was forced to grit his teeth and give the order to move on. Best do what they can before the Jubi arrives. It's only a matter of time.
A distant metallic roar only confirmed the inevitability of the Super-dreadnought's arrival.
"How in the world do you miss something like that? Why are you still here anyway? Ain't the civilians supposed to be out by now?" Kisame asked.
The Turian before them shook his head.. "I'm a tourist guide. I'll leave as soon as I find those in my care."
"They haven't left yet?" Konan asked, certainly surprised. "What kind of people stay here in such a time?"
"Retired vets. A bunch of Hanar who devoted all their time to the military, and still looking for their last great moment of glory." the Turian coughed the answer. "One of the reasons that they chose this place for a vacation. Museums filled with military history. This city's rife with it, for your information."
Kisame's facial expression became rather stiff, still having foul memories of the Hanar he was trapped talking to back at the Citadel. A whole crowd of them possibly being nearby did little to ease his mind.
Konan's attention was drawn elsewhere as the ground shook. It was becoming rougher by the minute, she thought it to be an earthquake at first as the Jubi wasn't anywhere in sight. But this... She decided to leave the ground.. her legs turning into an array of paper that propelled her up in the air. Much to the Turian guide's surprise.
"Er, you should probably go and look somewhere else. We are kind of in the middle of something." Kisame waved the guide away.
The alien nodded reluctantly. "Alright, call me on this number if you see a bunch of Hanar." he told Kisame before giving him the a note with the number. "Farewell, and good luck." before he hurried to leave, pulling a gun from his holster as he left. Probably having armed himself once the invasion began.
"Kisame... the Jubi's at the outskirts of the city. Over there!" Konan hollered, pointing towards the north. She didn't think it would take a different route to the city. Watching the massive black shape work it's way into the city, crushing buildings underfoot and toppling skyscrapers as it went. A terrible roar could be heard, leveling whole building blocks in it's immediate vicinity. It's overwhelming presence competing with that of the Collector Cruiser still hovering over the city, swatting the Fighters that attempted to bring it down out of the sky, one by one.
"Got it, just give me a minute." Kisame responded as he gazed down at his Samehada, which twitched as it worked the Chakra it absorbed from the Jubi back at the base. The weapon fusing with his body. The man eased his cloak down to his waist to avoid tearing it to pieces as his body changed to resemble that of a shark. Releasing a wave of water to surround him as the transformation completed. The water he summoned acting as the core as he jumped into the nearby lake and submerged himself.
Konan turned her attention downwards for a few moments before she coughed, regurgitating a long scroll while the water below moved. The entire lake pulling itself onto land with Kisame in the center of it all. Washing across the buildings and nearby streets as the shark moved inland. "Konan?"
"What...?" the woman above asked as she unfurled the scroll.
"I found the tourists." Kisame replied with raw terror tainting his voice as he looked upon the dozens of Hanar swimming all around him. Child-like laughter could be heard through the water as the aliens moved around the Shinobi with incredible swiftness.
Konan sighed.. "Just keep moving and maybe they'll leave." she told him.. "Just engage the Jubi and try to force it into coming here. The trap will be ready by then."
"Gotcha.." Kisame grumbled as he moved on.. the massive hemisphere of water moving in the monster's general direction.
New plan. New plan.
That's what Kabuto said as he woke up earlier. And somehow managed to plan for it in his sleep apparently, alongside the strange voice he kept mentioning. Zetsu couldn't help but think of Orochimaru, gross guy. But always with a plan ready... unless the more unexpected things happened.
Kabuto and Madara entered a fiery debate about the whole issue, while the rest could only watch the intense exchange of words. Zetsu knew that after the latest failure, Madara wouldn't simply roll over and accept the plans of the upstart unless provided with every assurance that it will work. But eventually they agreed to a compromise. That if this fails, Kabuto will follow whatever plan Madara manages to cook up.
And that's what got them to this point. Standing in one of the Destiny Ascension's mess halls, Overlooking the several hundred crew members that he and the others successfully captured over these last few hours. His parasite clones surrounding the captives while Tayuya sat in the far corner after she got back... with the Edo Tensei folks Kaidan and Saren alongside Shino and Darui carrying additional captives to add to their collection.
"These are the last ones in this section of the ship." Tayuya shouted.
"Alright!" Zetsu called out as he quickly went over the captives, counting the number of hostages. A large group of marines, technicians and other personnel. Once he finished counting, he turned to the COM system that they managed to find and move into the mess hall.
Kabuto and Madara sat in the other corner, watching the subordinate do his job as he opened a link to the rest of the ship. A general broadcast.
Here goes. He coughed.
"Helloooo!" he called out in a jovial tone. Positive that most of the crew members within the ship probably jumped at such an outburst. "I'm the representative of our group and talking to you on the behalf of my esteemed leaders. I have to inform you that we currently have about 461 of your fellow crew members serving as our hostages." he continued with the very same tone.. "I must advise everyone who might be willing to try saving these poor lost sheep, to avoid doing so. I assure you, the hostages could die if you make an attempt, and you will be sharing their fate, and add to the tally. We'll know if you try it, just like this brave soul."
He looked over his shoulder as he paused for effect after having noticed the erratic sounds of insects coming from the ventilation shaft in the roof, a scream could also be heard. The roof burst open and a Salarian fell into view, covered by Seeker insects, courtesy of Shino. The Aburame moved around to grab the Salarian by the neck and tossed him in to join the group of captives, his weapons taken away by the insects before they left the room through the hole in the ceiling.
"462." Zetsu corrected with a shrug.. "So, don't get any bright ideas." the man leaned slightly closer to the display. "We only ask for one thing in exchange for their safe return." another pause.. "Our leaders wish to have an audience with the Citadel Council. Nothing more, nothing less. You know who you are! They want to offer you a deal. One that you will find hard to refuse, I assure you."
He pushed himself away from the display and turned towards the captives.. "We'll give the Council one hour to contact us. Fail, and we'll kill the hostages, move to another section and repeat the process."
Zetsu turned back, "One hour." he added in for emphasis before ending the broadcast.
"Now, we only need to wait." Kabuto whispered with a smile, feeling quite certain that the council would respond shortly. Sure they could have all gone to where the Council's located, but for the plan to succeed, they must at least engage them in a conversation on terms at least remotely comfortable to the aliens.
And so the fight continue.
As for the offers that Kabuto and his ilk will offer, it's just the first step of a greater plan. One of them include something which will lead to something which have occurred in canon during the events between ME2 and ME3. Just with a different catalyst. As for what that is? You'll see next time.
The Jinchuriki will enter the battle for the city in the next chapter to assist their comrades. Their wrath will be great. Though the Jubi ain't about to give in without a fight.