Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Nagato, and Orochimaru had joined Sakura to surround the tube containing her doppelgänger. Once she'd forced herself to look more closely at the form within the cylinder, Sakura had begun to notice slight differences: The woman floating serenely in the cloudy green fluid appeared to be quite a bit younger than she was- at least twenty years younger, at a guess- and had a slightly different facial structure, with a more defined jaw and a smaller nose that pointed upward. She was very thin; not malnourished, necessarily, but certainly with the look of an individual who had been surviving for a significant amount of time on a purely necessity-based diet.
These differences did little to alleviate the thunderous shock and mounting disquiet Sakura felt at the discovery.
"What the fuck is this supposed to be?" Sakura rounded on Orochimaru, all the danger of their current situation forgotten, and reached out to grab him by the collar of the tight-fitting bodysuit he wore. Before she could even get close, Nagato had drawn his weapon with nearly inhuman speed, levelling it cooly at her temple. Sasuke and Naruto both made startled movements toward the red-haired man, but Orochimaru signalled dismissively for his underling to stand down, seemingly completely unphased by Sakura's actions. Nagato lowered his pistol without hesitation, but his eyes remained steadily fixed on Sakura until she had lowered her hands, clenched into fists, then turned back to the tube.
"Orochimaru… You brought us here to find some great secret, and now… This… is sitting here, staring me in the face. I want an explanation."
In response, Orochimaru moved to step past her toward the tube containing the duplicate Sakura. Reaching out carelessly, he stabbed a pointed metallic finger at the control panel fixed to the side of the tank, tapping away a key sequence. There was silence for a handful of seconds, then a loud hissing noise sounded from somewhere beneath the floor. Several small sections of the bottom of the cylinder opened, barely visible through the liquid housed within, allowing it to very slowly drain through the holes.
"My dear, I would love nothing more than to regale you with the intricacies of my grand discovery- And seeing as the restorative process will take several minutes, there's no time like the present!" Orochimaru cast his gaze over the four Konoha naval members, offering them an indulgent smile, as a teacher of small children might do when preparing to present a topic they found particularly interesting. The stony expressions of his captive audience did little to suppress the look of arrogant mirth etched all over the former Prelate of Science's face.
"During my time heading the Science Division, I was involved in several groundbreaking experiments into human life, lifespan, and several other fascinating subjects. You've heard the deplorable slander that my work has been stained by, no doubt, but it is one study in particular, a study that began over fifty years ago, that will finally reach its momentous crescendo today.
"One of the many avenues I explored was the pursuit of lifespan extension. Even at such a young age, I was already acutely aware of what a horrific loss of knowledge would come with my death, and sought to do whatever was necessary to prevent that loss, for the good of all humanity. Already, based on records of life on Earth pre-launch, it was clear that we lived a good deal longer than our ancestors, so I saw no reason that I could not employ my brilliance in order to increase the effect, and ensure that my pivotal work could continue for generations into the future.
"My studies were rooted in the exploration of the human genome, the very building blocks of our species. I disassembled human DNA itself, seeking the strands that, with some slight modifications, would fulfil my ultimate goal. Even I can admit that, at first, I wasn't sure what I was even looking for, but this was of little consequence. I knew that before long, the secrets of the double helix would reveal themselves to me.
"After several months of study, however, I began to notice something peculiar. I had viewed at least a thousand samples now, from subjects across the entirety of the Konoha, what my new associates referred to as 'top-dwellers' and maintenance crew members alike. Nagato and his connections to Sector 6's less, ah, celebrated ventures proved invaluable in ensuring that I had a steady supply of widely varied tissue. I broke down DNA from the young, the old, males, females, the perfectly healthy and the deathly ill.
"And yet, in each and every sample, I found a key sequence, buried deep within the genetic code. A sequence that was completely identical in every single helix that passed through my microscope, and yet not a sequence that was associated with any known aspect of human DNA.
"For those of you not particularly well-versed in the workings of deoxyribonucleic acid, suffice to say that this was completely impossible. Curious, I isolated the sequence itself, and began to probe the depths of this discovery. Little did I realize, I was on the cusp of shattering the very core of knowledge as we knew it."
A loud creaking sound made the assembled group jump. Sasuke shook himself, suddenly utterly aware of the cold sweat that had begun running in rivulets down his spine, then turned to look back to the tube containing the woman who looked so much like Sakura. The green fluid had drained completely, revealing the intricate metallic harness system holding her unconscious form in place. The respirator node that was clenched between her teeth, which had provided her life-preserving oxygen for who knew how long, withdrew from her lips with a thin mechanical whirring sound. Glancing at the instrument panel of the tube, Sasuke saw a tiny luminous display light up and slowly begin filling with a soft orange light, tracking across the screen from left to right.
"Through further assistance from my Science Division colleagues, I was able to accrue a tissue sample from a newborn baby- taken within the first hours of life, as soon as it could be reasonably acquired. Testing that sample confirmed what I had begun to suspect: that this DNA sequence was present from birth, and from there, it could reasonably be assumed that it was contained in the genetic code of every individual aboard the station.
"Throughout all of this, some key detail regarding the sequence had been floating just beyond my grasp, some final, tantalizing secret that I knew would unlock the true implications of what I had learned. It wasn't until several days later, however, that I would finally put my finger on what it was, and from there would finally know the truth.
"Studying the makeup of the sequence itself, I realized its shape was wrong- it shared no recognizable patterns with any other portion of the human genome, and yet was so perfectly consistent in its atomic structure.
"It was man-made.
"And thus, my friends, I came to the realization that would lead me to leave the Science Division, the revelation that would show me that my calling was far greater than anything that I could achieve beneath the shackles of the Konoha.
"Every human being aboard the Konoha- Me, all of you, the naval crew, the civilians, and the dwellers of Sector 6- are as artificial as this mysterious genome. We are synthetic humans- clones, to use the layperson's term.
Sasuke's blood ran cold.
"I don't understand… How is that possible?"
Orochimaru shook his head, a look of pity on his face as if to say: It's alright, I don't expect you to comprehend, with your meager intelligence. The expression made Sasuke sick.
"The details are far beyond any of you. Rest assured, I determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not human beings. We aren't simply more long-lived than our ancestors because of advancements in medicine, or in quality of living- we live longer because we were bred to do so. We were put aboard this station to act as caretakers, as chaperones, to escort the true remnants of humanity across the universe, to find a new world to kill as surely as they killed the old one." He gestured to the pod he stood beside.
Thunderous silence greeted his words. Sasuke struggled to grasp the meaning of his words, attempting to parse the statement through his mind like wet meteor dust through a clogged filter. Beside him, Sakura's face had gone deathly pale, and she now stared at the woman in the tube with a look of abject horror.
"But, don't take my word for it- It looks like our comatose friend is just about ready for you to ask her yourself!" With a theatrical flourish, Orochimaru reached out his thin human arm and tapped a final key on the stasis tank control panel. The front half of the tube unlocked and swiveled around to rest behind it, the harness around the figure disengaging to allow her to tumble forward toward the floor. On reflex, Sasuke took two long strides forward to catch the woman's body, then recoiled slightly in spite of himself.
The woman's (Sakura's?) eyes fluttered open, revealing all-too-familiar jade green irises, albeit with the characteristic faded colour and cloudy lenses brought on by stasis fatigue after an extended sleep. Staring into those eyes, so much like the eyes he'd stared into during his wedding and on a million days before and after, Sasuke's composure broke. He abruptly straightened up and placed the woman down to stand. Her legs immediately wavered, and only by reaching back and clutching the tube behind her did she prevent herself from falling forward once again. The form-fitting grey and black bodysuit she wore glistened with remnants of the fluid she'd been immersed in, strands of her pink hair plastered against her forehead.
The woman leaned against the tank for several seconds, visibly composing herself. Her green eyes were unfocused, looking at nothing in particular while her body's systems re-acclimated themselves to consciousness. She shivered as dry, conditioned oxygen touched her skin for the first time in decades.
Finally, the woman's gaze began to track around the room, settling on the faces of the people surrounding her. Her expression of confusion deepened as she looked; clearly, she'd expected her eventual awakening to look very different.
"Why are you the only ones awake? Were the rejuvenation sequences not keyed properly?"
Sakura stepped around from behind Sasuke's back, where she'd been half-hiding herself from the woman who looked so much like her younger self. The woman who, if Orochimaru was to be believed, had provided the blueprint from which she'd been born- Sakura couldn't quite bring herself to think "created" or "grown" about her own origins. However, finally seeing her without the haze of green obstructing her features, Sakura finally realized why she'd looked so familiar, even with her small differences: the woman standing before her was the spitting image of the photos she'd seen of her maternal grandmother, who'd launched with the Konoha as a young woman and died several many years ago. The person standing before her now could have stepped directly out of one of those old images.
Upon seeing her, the young Sakura's expression changed from deep confusion to utterly shocked disbelief. Pure fear flashed in her eyes as she registered the presence of the woman. Her entire body swayed, and she nearly fell directly backward into the tank from which they had awoken her.
"No… This can't be…"
Orochimaru placed his artificial hand on the young woman's shoulder. Sasuke saw her flinch instinctively at the feeling of the cold steel through the thin synthetic fabric of her bodysuit. Looking into Orochimaru's yellow predator eyes, the young Sakura visibly swallowed, every nerve in her body screaming to get away from this man, to not let him touch her, but the heavy grip of the cybernetic fingers so close to her neck paralyzed her into inaction.
"Our sincerest apologies for awakening you early, my dear… But I have a point to prove, and you are by far the most immediate means to acquire the answers I seek." Those horrible, snakelike eyes bored into the terrified green orbs of his target. "Judging from your reaction, you've already made the mental connections to realize who we are. Now, if you could confirm the hypothesis that I've shared with my travelling companions here, it would be highly appreciated: These tanks contain humans, the final remnants of the entire human race. You were all placed on this ship in suspended animation, to follow alongside the Konoha, until such a time as your clone stewards found a new home upon which to continue to spread the blight of humanity's existence. Am I correct?"
For a long moment, the young Sakura stared at Orochimaru, the fear etched on her face mounting as he pontificated. Then her expression crumpled, horror being replaced by abject despair.
"You were never meant to know. The Konoha's crew would locate a new, habitable planet, with the Ark following behind at a safe distance, shielded from discovery by all of its sensors. We needed to ensure that the human race would continue, by whatever means necessary"
A thunderous silence greeted her affirmation. Hinata's hands were folded over her mouth, her bulging eyes looking like discs of polished ivory set in her head. Naruto's face was a mask of bewildered anger, he fists clenched with the effort of suppressing the rage burning behind his eyes.
Sakura stepped forward, grabbed the younger her by the collar of her jumpsuit, and lifted her into the air. The woman was young, very thin, and couldn't have weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds, at most; for Sakura's own trained and toned muscles, fueled even further by rage-filled adrenaline, swinging her around and slamming her against the plasteel surface of a different stasis tube was easy. Fortunately for Sakura's own mental state, she didn't immediately recognize the body floating within the cylinder.
"For eighty years- eighty years- generations of our families have been living aboard that ship, dedicating our lives to the Konoha's mission to explore and settle the reaches of space. Less than two hours ago, we found out that we were the end of humanity, and now you mean to tell me that this planet wasn't even meant to be for us? That all of this was us just doing your dirty work, finding all of you a home?" The other Sakura winced at the venom in the words flying from her counterpart's mouth. "Why did you put us on this ship? Why couldn't you start this mission yourselves?!"
The words echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the hundreds of stasis cylinders. Sakura's green eyes were alight with fury as she stared at the woman who had provided the DNA that had sired her family (She was vaguely aware that this was the first time she'd truly accepted what Orochimaru had told them.) Tears of anger were pooling in the corners of her eyes as her breathing sped up and deepened out of the exertion of her rage.
The other Sakura lowered her gaze, staring at her feet. When she spoke, her voice was almost too quiet to hear.
"We couldn't start this mission, because then we wouldn't see the end of it. We were selfish, and we were scared. I wish I could say something, anything, that would make it better. But I can't."
Sakura released her grip without warning, nearly causing the woman before her to fall to the ground again. In an instant, her anger had been squashed, being replaced by a feeling of melancholic despair. Turning to Orochimaru, she pointed back at her counterpart.
"This is what you wanted. All this time, you wanted confirmation that none of us are truly human. You've got what you came for, the rest of this has nothing to do with us."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "That's not strictly true, Lieutenant Uchiha, as you will soon see, but for now I must address your… I suppose grandmother would be the most appropriate term?" Turning to the other Sakura, Orochimaru bowed his head in what should have been a show of respect, but the predatory smile on his face immediately blackened the meaning of the gesture.
"I have only one more question for you, my dear, before we may take steps toward concluding our business here today. You seem to have fairly expansive knowledge of the grand designs of the humans contained within this ship, when it came to launching the Konoha and what would happen when you followed us to your promised land. Therefore, my question is this: What was the plan once you all woke up? What happens to your clone slaves, when our purpose is fulfilled and you have your new home?"
The silence following his question was deafening. Even Nagato had turned to study the human Sakura, his violet eyes narrowing ever so slightly at her sharp intake of breath. Orochimaru's eyes gleamed at her reaction.
The young woman visibly struggled with the words for several seconds, eyes flicking from one Konoha crew member to another. Her gaze lingered on Nagato's hand, firmly gripping his holstered spiker, before she returned to Orochimaru. Her face had gone deathly pale, but a new resolve shone in her eyes- the resolve of one who has a horrible decision to make, and has made their peace with what must happen next.
"There was something- some kind of broadcast key, something that had been developed while the majority of our scientists were perfecting our cloning. The science is well above my head, but my understanding…" She took a long, slow breath. "Is that it was a signal that would trigger a certain DNA sequence unique to the clones. It would cause a total shutdown of the brain and the entire central nervous system, all within a second or two. Immediate end of life.
"They called it the killswitch."
A rustling noise beside him was all the warning Sasuke had to turn and grab ahold of Naruto around the chest in order to stop him from launching himself at the human Sakura. Hinata had taken two steps forward, her expression more angry than Sasuke had ever seen or would have believed, but luckily she had the self-control that her husband so direly lacked.
"She would have killed all of us! Everyone in these tanks was ready to erase tens of thousands of people, without a second thought, just so that they could keep themselves alive for a little longer! I will RIP YOU APART MYSELF!" Sasuke felt Naruto's muscles trembling; whether from exertion or emotion, he couldn't even begin to surmise. It took every ounce of his strength to stop his best friend from rocketing at the terrified woman and making good on his threat.
"Naruto, enough! You have a right to be angry, we're all angry, but she didn't make that decision. She can't answer for the sins of the entire human race!"
After a few more seconds of struggle, Sasuke shoved Naruto backward. He came to rest next to Hinata, and just before he could resume his attack, his wife clamped a hand firmly onto his shoulder. Disbelief washed over his face as he turned his gaze, but one look at his wife's face quenched his white-hot ferocity. Hinata's face was grim, and her hand shook ever so slightly from its perch on his shoulder, but her soft white eyes locked into his and silently pleaded with him- and his love for her won out. The blonde man turned his gaze back onto the young pink-haired woman, his eyes still flashing dangerously despite his inertness.
"Nothing I said was a lie. You would have killed us all, because to you we're not people."
Human Sakura's face fell, and a tear ran down her cheek. "I… I'm not saying what would have happened was right. It was supposed to be easy, none of us would have ever seen any of you… But now I have, and that terrifies me, because now I see how human you are. How horrible what we'd planned to do would have been."
Sasuke glanced at his wife, who shook her head a miniscule amount to each side.
She may truly be remorseful, but we can't possibly know for sure.
Orochimaru cleared his throat with a disgustingly wet rattling noise, and Sasuke immediately realized two things: One, the deranged scientist's biomechanical augments were not only surface deep; and two, his health was much worse than it had first appeared. Behind all of his grandiose mannerisms and self-assured prattling about his genius, Orochimaru Hebi's artificially-extended lifespan was running short, and he was desperately aware of that fact.
"As much as I greatly appreciate your sympathies, I'm afraid there is one more thing that we require your assistance with, Ms. Haruno." Behind his back, Nagato raised his wrist-mounted communicator to his lips and began to mutter softly. "If you would be so kind as to guide the way, I have business on the bridge of this ship."
Several tense minutes later, the ramshackle crew of boarders and their newest addition had reached the control room of the shuttle. Once the human Sakura had provided clearance to enter the chamber, Orochimaru stepped through the doorway, followed by his variety of captives, with his enforcer taking up the rear guard.
The bridge of this ship- what the human Sakura had called "The Ark"- was significantly smaller than that of the Konoha, presumably because the intent was that it would very rarely, if ever, actually be piloted. There was a pilot's station, a co-pilot's station, and a navigation console. The pilot console's display was glowing softly, and glancing at the screen Sasuke saw that it was outputting the status of the ship's pilotage link to the Konoha. The other monitors were all dark. Besides these consoles, the bridge was completely empty, with most of the walls being fully dedicated to exterior viewscreens.
Orochimaru approached the pilot's station, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Nagato, you made contact, correct?"
Nagato nodded, motioning toward the door. "I've issued them the coordinates. They should be arriving any second now, sir." The words were hardly out of his mouth before the bridge doors had whirred open again, and Kisame, Deidara and Konan entered the room. Deidara and Konan were carrying a wide storage crate between them, each gripping a handle on one side as they carefully maneuvered it through the doorway. Behind them, Kisame was balancing his rifle in one hand, his other gripping a small, square case by a single handle fixed to the top. Sasuke's attention was immediately drawn to the smaller case; it was made of shining black meteorite steel and had a crimson "X" of warning emblazoning the top of the box. A keypad locking mechanism adorned the front of the box, but it had clearly been forced open, the metal of the lock fused and burned with small shards of still red-hot metal dangling from a series of precise cuts dug through the small steel catch.
"Wonderful, my friends! You had a successful hunt, I take it?" Orochimaru swept toward the new arrivals, the greedy excitement on his face making his features look even more predatory than usual. Konan and Deidara placed the huge storage chest in front of him, while Kisame handed the small black crate directly to the former Prelate of Science. Orochimaru held the box for a handful of seconds, gazing down at it with an almost reverent expression, but instead of opening the lid he returned his focus to the large box.
"What results?"
Konan gestured toward the metal container. "We emptied the science storage cells of everything we could find that had any connection to synthetic human production; schematics, machinery blueprints, biometric readouts, archived documents. There's also a handful of tissue samples and several pieces of assessment machinery, it's all inside."
Orochimaru clapped his hands with delight. "Nagato, you and your associates have done yourselves proud- these discoveries could not have happened without you! With access to the secrets of cloning,handed down by the progenitors themselves, we are now further than ever along our path to our eternal life!"
Sasuke stepped forward, carefully keeping his hands visible as Kisame aimed his rifle threateningly at him. "Orochimaru... Humour me. What's in the smaller case?"
Konan's eyes flashed as she rounded on him. "You'd like to know, wouldn't-"
"Now, Konan" Orochimaru chided the blue-haired woman, who immediately snapped her mouth shut, the indignation on her face being replaced by wariness. "Captain Uchiha seeks knowledge, the most noble pursuit there is- we are brothers, in this respect. Without his assistance, none of the discoveries made today truly would have been possible. What sort of way to repay him would it be for me to keep those secrets?"
Orochimaru held the black steel box from below with his right hand and slowly gripped the locking mechanism with his left. Sasuke's eyes were fixed on the crate, and he heard the rustling noise of his companions moving to flank him and see what would be revealed. Orochimaru's face was a picture of reverence, and for possibly the first time since they'd had their confrontation in the hangar of Sector 3, Sasuke truly believed that he was in awe of what he was about to reveal.
Slowly swinging the box open, Orochimaru revealed a padded interior of deep grey foam, with a single cavity carved into the cushioning the house a small device. The piece of machinery nestled within the box resembled a datapad, but the small rectangle of plastic and circuitry was adorned with a small transmitter antenna on the left side. It was also slightly larger than a typical datapad, though the screen was the same size; a small border ran along the bottom of the screen, housing a pair of red toggle switches and a single bright orange button.
"Ladies and gentlemen… The events of this day have been in the making for decades. Long before your involvement in this journey could even be dreamed of, we formulated a plan to find Sector 7 and acquire the treasure troves of information that it would no doubt contain. However, recent developments- most notably, certain revelations granted to us by our host-" Orochimaru nodded to the human Sakura, who was standing slightly away from the rest of the group, carefully ensuring that there was at least one body between herself and Naruto at all times. "Made it clear that we had another objective on board this craft. And thus, Nagato passed on to his associates to retrieve this." Lifting the device out of its foam cradle, Orochimaru raised it up in one hand. All eyes in the room followed its progress, as though hypnotized.
"This, my friends, is the fabled killswitch. The device that, once activated, would cause the complete bodily shutdown of every synthetic human in a planet-sized radius."
Sasuke's black eyes locked onto the object, clutched in Orochimaru's waxy hand. Suddenly, the innocuous device seemed to be wreathed in a horrible, suffocating darkness. Death itself, locked within a thin wafer of plastic and circuitry.
"Orochimaru… It has to be destroyed! If that were to ever trigger, it would mean the end of all of us."
Orochimaru favored him with a small smile. "In our current state, Captain Uchiha, you are no doubt correct. However, with the sum of my knowledge of genetic manipulation and the information we've liberated from this ship, I have no doubt that I will be able to reverse engineer the genome in question, and protect myself from the effects of the switch. Myself, and my associates… And if we are protected, then it ceases to be a death sentence for myself and my friends, and instead becomes a highly effective weapon should developments arise that prove to be detrimental to our interests."
Sasuke stared at the man standing before him- his pale yellow skin, his snakelike eyes, his horrible, stretched-looking smile. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Orochimaru was not bluffing. He truly thought that he could engineer some sort of immunity for his crew from the killswitch's effects, and if he did, he would not hesitate to end the life of every soul living aboard the Konoha if he felt threatened.
"You are a monster." His wife's voice was as hard as diamond and sharp as a razor. Rather than the fear he expected to see on Sakura's face, her expression radiated utter disgust.
Orochimaru shrugged. "If our positions were reversed, and you were handed such an item, could you truly say that you would not seek to use it for your own ends?" He turned to the rest of his crew. "Alas, our time together is approaching an end. Nagato, contact your associates still in Sector 6 and have them ready the crew transport shuttle to receive us; we will be departing for the surface of Site III as soon as we can possibly be prepared. Konan, Deidara, return to the hangar with our cargo and load it securely." As his three underlings nodded and swiftly left the bridge to carry out his will, Orochimaru turned to favor Kisame with a pointed glance, then turned back to the collected Konoha naval officers.
"And now we come to the final act- the crescendo, just before the curtain falls. A lovely Earth phrase, is it not?" Orochimaru gestured with his flesh hand, and Kisame handed him his rifle before moving toward the pilot's console. His first few presses caused the screen to flash red, as the words "PILOTAGE LINK DISENGAGED. MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED." flashed onto the screen. Pressing a few more keys, Kisame pushed the control stick all the way forward before reaching for the ship's thrust control and pushing it to max.
Orochimaru's gaze rounded back to Sasuke, and for once his face lacked its usual grim smile. "Believe me when I say that nothing about this is personal, Captain. Unfortunately, you've been party to far too many of my discoveries today, and if even half of what your brother has said about you is true, you possess both the intelligence and ability to cause serious damage to my future studies, and the moral compass that would drive you to do so."
Over his shoulder, Kisame had apparently satisfied himself with the ship's controls, and had reached into the lining of his cloak to withdraw a compact sidearm. Levelling his aim at the console of the pilot's station, the weapon discharged with several bright flashes of yellow light, a momentary tang of atomic discharge wafting through the air. Three shots made their way into the control bank, followed by two into the console itself, shattering the metal casings into twisted flowers of jagged, white-hot steel. All the while, the console screen continued dutifully blaring its warning message, before switching to a new, much more concerning mantra.
PILOTAGE LINK DISENGAGED. MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED.
COLLISION IMMINENT. RECOURSE IMMEDIATELY.
"Alas… We stand on the edge of a reckoning, and it falls to me to take the necessary steps, to ensure the survival of all of our people. You will not thank me for doing what I must do, and I have made peace with this fact. Someday, perhaps enlightenment will bless you with its presence, and you will truly understand what has happened here today- or perhaps, it never will, and you will not. It matters little to me."
Orochimaru smoothly made his way toward the hangar door, the gleaming instrument of metallic death he carried tracking across each of his stunned prisoners in turn. Kisame walked past him to stand in the open doorway; a further flash of light announced another handful of energy pulses being fired into the control module for the bulkhead doors.
"This ship, and its cargo, can not survive. The people in those cylinders will unmake us at the first opportunity, killswitch or no, because we pose a threat to their very existence. We are them, perfected, and they are not prepared to face that fact." Orochimaru's smile returned, just as wicked and draconic as ever. "How fitting it is, that the very station upon which they sought to contain us, the ship upon which we sailed to secure their future, will now become the stone against which I will dash their skulls.
"For the last time, I bid you all farewell. May the Mother guide you down this final path."
Without another word, Orochimaru and Kisame left through the bridge entryway. One steel hand reached carelessly out to tap a key on the door control panel fixed to the wall outside the bridge entrance. Sasuke launched himself across the cramped bridge toward the closing doors, but the attempt was futile. The steel doors slid shut without a sound, and then locked with the barely perceptible click of the internal latch.