„Thinking"
„Talking"
„Impactful word"
Akane was well aware that the path of healing she had chosen wouldn't be a walk through the park. There was much emotional baggage to deal with and the demons wouldn't let her off the hook just yet. If ever. But she felt she was moving forward.
She wouldn't be exaggerating if she claimed it was immensely difficult.
All things worth pursuing were.
The shinobi hadn't expected to gain anything by saving Peter's crew and by extension, the human captives. But Aite's colonists were generous enough to take care of the injured and even give her rations for her travels. They had shared their worries about the increasing sightings and attempts of slavers on human colonies, keyword being human, all across the Skyllian Verge. The news sounded troubling for Akane because it added yet another piece to the puzzle she had to solve.
Nevertheless, leaving had been a tad challenging because Amara (and many others for that matter) were reluctant to let her go but the shinobi insisted that she had to go, silencing their arguments with an 'I can take care of myself' line.
That was how she ended up with her own ship, which reeked so much of the owner's previous activities that she seriously considered selling it off. Might as well make some credits. But she highly doubted anyone would consider buying it. It was a slaver's ship after all.
Well, she found other uses in it.
Practising her skills with the omni-tool, she skimmed through all the data stored on the ship's data banks and found lots of valuable information regarding the group they've been part of and their plans. It was as she had feared - this gang was part of something bigger. A whole slaver ring, if she read their mail right.
This was getting more worrisome by the minute.
There had to be a connection to all those recent human-centred slave grabs. Slave trade wasn't a batarian-exclusive thing, even if their species was known for its positive view on slavery. Hell, they practised it on their own people. So she shouldn't take their simmering hate too much into consideration when it came to the sudden elevating interest in human slaves.
What residents of the Terminus Systems wanted above all else... was profit. Flexing her knowledge of basic economics, the offer rose with the demand so therefore, a new buyer must have entered the market. An applicant that seemed to be highly invested in the human species.
The most plausible answer would be Cerberus... but even they wouldn't want to attract this much attention to themselves through such purchases. Another point ruling out the pro-human terrorist organization was, that they were meant to be 'pro'-human so she thought they wouldn't abduct such an amount of their own. One fact that supported this was that it had never happened before.
So that left only the Collectors.
... fuck.
Language mate.
But that begged the question of why they would focus on only one race out of all the others. In what were the humans so special that the Collectors - by extension Reapers - would completely disregard other options? It was true that up until this day, she had only encountered the human version of the Kara. Not asari, not turian, not salarian but human.
The Reapers were masters in finding new ways to twist nature, creating countless abominations by combining the genetic material of different species and mould them into something new. Just looking back at what they had done with the Densorin, not to mention the Zha'til. So why not do it now?
Girl, you're overthinking again.
Perhaps because they saw no difference in beginning later than early. They still considered themselves powerful enough to take this cycle down even with the available option of preparation. Then why...
Would you stop for a second?!
The several lines of thought stopped. Her mind was already getting wrapped up by the past again when it was important for her to look into the future. The past was the past and she should let it be so but she knew her mind would perpetually come back to such thoughts.
After all, there was still much to be learnt from history.
Back to the present... first things first - she was in sore need of better equipment. Once she got that, then she could come up with a strategy.
There was only one place she could turn to.
So Omega it was, once again...
The ride had been a quiet one, considering she was alone inside this big ship but it had served her well in the forming of her next steps. She had come to expect some mingling noise while she slept; a habit she had picked up during her stay at the Normandy. Strange that she would come to miss something like this.
Anyhow, it was a nice change from the lively Citadel or even Omega, though Omega was lively in another sense.
Like in criminal activity, gang fights, territory raids, sexual themes, bar fights...
The point was - no one had been there to bother her and her thoughts. She could finally let her guard down.
What a vacation that had been...
... such a pity it had to end.
Get your lazy ass out there!
"Right, right..."
Maybe she should seek out a therapist for her questionable mental health. Talking to herself didn't seem like the action of someone with the right mind.
Ha, as if! I am just a helpful coping mechanism.
"Of course you are."
And with that, another mental debate came to an end. It was for the better, she mustn't be distracted from realizing all that she had thought of on her way here.
Skipping over to the Carrd district. The market was packed with goods since the new wave of vendors had arrived. Most of them had been forced to relocate from the neighbouring district as the result of some minor discrepancies between the volus and batarians. The conflict was stretching well over one year, which wasn't obviously as minor as people believed it to be because it turned into an all-out war.
Just a normal day on Omega.
But hey, you know what they say: One man's misfortune was another's fortune. It was convenient to have all of what she needed in one place, though that seemingly ruled out swords. She realized that her choice of weaponry was left severely outdated by a couple of centuries but that didn't stop her from searching up the extranet for a weapon's manufacturer.
She ended up finding one.
It was a manufacturer from a human country called 'Japan' that produced real katana albeit for decorative purposes. Perhaps she could make a special order.
Either way, one overly talkative elcor recommended Illium to her. In case she wanted the top-stock of the black market. Though that place laid still in the far future - one where she could afford all the administration and docking fees without spending a fortune.
There wasn't much to do for her as she waited for her custom made clothes to arrive. It had become too cold for her hairless skin and it was beginning to reflect negatively on her health. There was only so much chakra could compensate for. Though she could have done a better job healing her skin but as she had mentioned multiple times before, medical ninjutsu was never her forte.
To her defence, it wasn't like she had had much time to properly prepare the In'yu Shōmetsu, and thinking back on the radius of damage she had to regenerate - that being: her whole body. Akane thought she had done laudably. But the lack of skill still affected the quality of her recovery. Her regenerated skin seemed able to resume all its functions to an acceptable degree but it hadn't done much to her overall looks.
As Joker once said: You need Jesus!
Whoever this 'Jesus' person was at this point.
It had been quantity over quality but damn if she didn't make a face once she looked at a mirror again. Let's just say that she understood why people had it rough to properly look at her from this point on. Frankly put... she looked like shit, even in spite of the effort Akane had put into her Susanoo to prevent injury.
The scar tissue covered nearly all of her body and on those places it didn't, her initial skin pigmentation stood out. Parts of her body (but mostly her torso) had profound scars, making it almost appear as if she had been cut open in a literal sense.
Every hair on her skin had been singed to its core, so there was nothing left to grew hair from. Although she did manage to regrow some nerve endings, even at the cost of most of her sweat glands. However, the sense of touch on her hide left much to desire. Shallow touch was near impossible to feel, yet on the good side, it appeared to have preserved its flexibility.
Other than being hairless, nailless, even wartless... she suffered no severe consequences otherwise.
Conclusion: You can kiss your spinster days goodbye. No man will eye you now.
She growled audibly at her mind's unhelpful comment, "Idiotic mind."
You realize that you just called yourself an idiot?
She didn't bother hiding her eye roll. Leave it to her mind to drive her crazy. Hah, as if she already wasn't. Wrex had approved of her inanity back on Virmire.
Actual conclusion: there was more than one reason to buy new clothes.
It was an order straight from the human's homeworld Earth, and to say that Earth was a system away would be an understatement. It had come as no surprise to her when her retailer said it would take a while for the package to be delivered. Sadly, she couldn't afford a special shipment.
So she settled on a prolonged recon mission of gathering intelligence about everything that could help her in her quest to apprehend the Collectors' obscure plans. Which also included making the life of slavers miserable on every possible occasion.
Skipping through the lower level alleyways behind Afterlife discreetly, it was a good place to listen to the audio broadcast to keep up to date with the rest of the galaxy. But she could have sworn that part of Omega went silent at the news that was about to reach her ears.
Breaking news! Humanity suffers a great loss. The famed Spectre Jane Shepard has been officially announced: 'missing in action'. The Council expresses their condolences to the Systems Alliance but neither of them divulged any details about the cause of disappearance regarding Humanity's first Spectre - until further notice.
Was it just her or did the galaxy turn darker?
Liara POV
The first-ever true friend she made - a human of all things - died, just like that.
She could hardly believe it. Correction - she refused to believe it.
Hearing about it, she had been just as devastated as the days after her mother died. It was with the support of Normandy's crew that gave her enough strength to overcome her grief. The death of a parental figure, and being amongst the ones to had pulled the trigger, had left its mark on her.
Liara felt safe with Shepard, even as she had broken down after Peak-15 - when she was at her most vulnerable. The redhead had been there for her. Listening. Comforting.
It felt almost embarrassing to her how she had brushed off the humans as brash and overambitious, even going as far as calling them 'bullies'. In all of her years of study, that was a time she had been most glad of being in the wrong. Shepard proved to be even more than a true paragon for Humanity but also a great shoulder to lean on.
She had come to deeply admire her for who she was outside the armour. Even when Liara's eagerness had sometimes spoiled their conversations. At least she thought of it as such, yet the Commander had never seemed to be bothered by it.
At some point, the feelings of admiration and attraction had begun to morph into her developing a crush on the Commander. And the immature adult she was - at the tender age of slightly over 100 - Liara had done a poor job of hiding it, being on the receiving end of the endless teasing. She bore no resentment towards Ashley because there were no hard feelings involved in the playful quips that often vexed her infuriatingly.
But the drama that followed when she had heard that Kaidan also showed interest in the Commander was like straight from the extranet. She never wanted it to escalate like that. It had caused quite the stir for Liara and Kaidan but Shepard resolved it as per their insistence because neither could focus on the mission.
Although having been rejected at the end of it, both humans expressed their reassurances that it would have no impact on their friendship whatsoever. For which the asari was immensely thankful. The last thing she had wanted was to lose their friendship.
And it was because Shepard was her friend (and almost something more) that she couldn't let go. No, Shepard meant too much for her to simply shove her among memories. Her time with her, with the Normandy, was too precious and she would be doing herself a dishonour leaving the matter unfinished.
As long as nobody could find her body then she wouldn't write Shepard off so quickly. She would find her before anyone else did.
Liara would find a way - no matter what.
First mother, then father, then Haruko, then Shirone... now Shepard. She could see why people would curse their lives when it offered nothing more than pain, suffering and futility.
The news of Shepard's disappearance threw her into a seemingly endless loop of memories.
A pit.
Where the subject wasn't exclusive to only the fallen Commander, but also to all of the other losses she had ever endured. And they had returned with ten-fold of the intensity, reflecting just how much she had deprived herself of the opportunity to grieve.
For herself and for others.
It was only now that she had an epiphany on the scale of damage the Reaper Invasion had done to her.
Back at the Alliance, there had been always a task she could perform to keep her thoughts from venturing into such topics. Train. Spar. Mission. All of it had been adequate at keeping her conscious to where it, in her opinion, mattered the most at that time. Everything else was labelled as unimportant junk, ready to be thrown away.
She was incapable of functioning any other way at that time. She was incapable of comprehending the things she had seen without cold indifference. She would have bled out if she felt too much and that... she couldn't let happen. Her father still needed her. Shirone still needed her. And lastly, Haruko still needed her.
Looking back, being reserved was always one of her hallmarks. Since she was young, expressiveness wasn't incorporated into her usual mannerism. A factor of great difference, she had come to acknowledge, between her and her contemporaries.
She didn't know why she acted how she acted but if someone were to ask her about the reason. Well...
She found it wrong to express emotions just for the sake of pretending for others. Seeing it as a degradation for emotions to be used in such a dishonest manner when they should be expressed freely. Not out of a false sense of courtesy to accommodate another.
The sentiment brought her back to yet another instance in her past that had a heavier impact on the course of her life than she had ever realized.
There was once this elderly man, sitting on the same bench as her while she had been waiting for her train. She had noted that the man had been watching her in an awfully familiar way. Her way. The similarities in their behaviours went unsaid between them, both observant of the other that should have seemed alarming to anyone else.
They were taught not to trust strangers, but how come it was a stranger that had understood her in ways nobody else could?
Was it some sort of connection between two kindred spirits? Like-minded individuals?
Moreover, in his aged eyes, she saw no ill intention - just wisdom. Perhaps it was exactly the reason she had stayed; she couldn't remember.
It was when the man had finally decided to breach the silence that they engaged in such a long conversation that had either of them miss their train. Based on the earful she had been given by her parents later on - it had been her. Yet weren't it for exactly this fateful meeting, she might have never developed such an interest in the Shinobi, even though they had touched the subject in history.
Little did she know that this old man had been in fact, one of the famed Shinobi as she had found out later on. An Uzumaki, as he had introduced himself.
The Uzumaki had lit a fire of interest inside her that day that couldn't have been quenched. And so she had read, and read, and read endlessly. Her interest forever piqued by the legendary Shinobi.
But nothing she had ever read from books prepared Akane for the challenges she had to face during the Reaper Invasion. It had come down to whether she was able to adapt or die. So she had chosen to acclimatize to her environment, albeit it had come at a cost that she hadn't realized.
The atrocities of war had turned her emotional capacity to zero for any other being that wasn't Shirone or Haruko, effectively turning her numb to the point of coldness. As per the opinion of other shinobi. It was only thanks to those two that she had any sort of emotional relief at all.
The longer they had fought against the Reapers, the bleaker had become her hopes about survival until she completely disregarded her life in favour of saving her sister (and by extension, the rest of the SSA). It might have appeared strange to any other but she hadn't been scared off by the fact of sacrificing everything.
She knew that it was in her blood... this willingness to sacrifice. And considering what she had to lose, the decision had been pretty much a no-brainer.
Shirone was the life force that fuelled her existence, Haruko was the heart that kept beating inside her chest.
Both of them a fundamental part of her whole existence. Her whole being.
They were the best that could have ever happened to her. They represented the best of her.
So what was she without them?
Where was she in her?
Who was Akane Uchiha?
...
Perhaps it is time to find out?
With heavy heart did the Uchiha continue her fight, despite knowing another person close to her heart had been lost to her.
Life just never got easier for her.
But she was a realist; a brutal one at that. There was always more to things than our minds wanted us to perceive. Things she had gradually closed her mind to in the past.
Not anymore.
There was more to existence than survival.
There was more to love than sacrifice.
There was more to life than suffering.
There was more to Akane Uchiha than what she chose the world to see.
It was time to bring that out. And she did, through her actions. Her plans, albeit recent in their application, had slowly shown their first results. She had split herself into two, deploying one Kage Bunshin as a long-term recon unit. The galaxy was a big place after all, and not all she wanted to know - wanted to learn - was accessible in one place.
Akane needed to see in what reality she was living in with her own eyes. What the Milky Way and its denizens had to offer.
Besides, the extranet couldn't be her only reliable source. Nothing topped having first-hand experience.
The Kage Bunshin was to traverse different parts of the galaxy. Observing and studying the ways of the current world. Asari. Turian. Salarian. She would learn from them all. For too long had pain and time been her teachers. Although it stood without question that the suffering she had endured until now wouldn't vanish without hardships... she was open to change.
And that was the first step, she had managed to take.
Whether it was in the right or wrong direction she cared not, as long as it was her who did the step.
The slavers became slowly suspicious of her activity but not yet enough for them to step out of business. Things should play themselves out as long as she continued her targeted raids on their storages, which were filled with slaves of a different race. But it did only pass a month.
She wondered if she would be as productive in the following month because her endeavour would only increase in difficulty once it progressed into the later stages. But she shouldn't burden her mind with a future that had yet to come, if ever. She wouldn't dare to think so highly of herself to know all the paths of the future. But one can anticipate through enough experience.
She had spent the majority of the month off-world, doing what she had set out to do. She was a woman on a mission, that was for sure. Even when money was the last reason she chose to do what she was doing, the shinobi did get a fair amount of it on her account.
Almost enough to buy that sword you had been looking up...
She felt almost intimidated by the credits on her omni-tool. Akane had never been in possession of such an astounding amount and knew not what to do with it. Her family hadn't been actually rich but they had enough to manage. And she had learned young to handle finances with consideration. Technically-
A disturbance vanished her trail of thoughts as she attentively tried to pinpoint the cause. Finding it quickly in a human darting and dodging through the crowds, spinning and wheeling his way past startled aliens. Ignoring the unintelligible threats and curses they shouted after him.
He was on the run from someone. And exactly that piqued the shinobi's interest more than it should. Perhaps it was just another petty crime but her instincts told her otherwise.
The Uchiha followed him as he sharply cut the corner down to an empty side street lined with garbage cans, trash bins and piles of refuse. Raising past several closed doorways, he finally ducked behind a large trash bin, crouching low. The Anbu held herself in the dark, her steps untraceable through any ordinary means.
From his pocket, he pulled out a small mirror, angling it, so he could see back down the length of the alley. Without having to peek his head out and expose himself.
"Clever man."
They waited together, unbeknown to the human. It wasn't until a few seconds later that the human's pursuer skitted into view, coming from the main alley into the deserted one at a full run. The figure was small, about a foot shorter than the human and covered head to toe in dark clothing. The pursuers face was completely obscured by a tightly wrapped scarf.
Her Byakugan activated on reflex, her gaze peeking under the layers. Effortlessly recognizing of which race the stranger was - quarian. Not an uncommon sight but still not enough to be considered casual in Omega. Her instincts were right in following this thread.
The quarian stopped and stared down the length of the alley, head turning from side to side, looking for some sight of where the human might have disappeared to. His follower pulled out a pistol, adjusted the setting, then began to move forward cautiously. Weapon ready.
Akane chose against intervening. Although having questioned her lack of intervention during her past visits to the station, she felt no drive to in this situation.
The human seemed to be contemplating the beneficial course of action but stayed in place. Meanwhile, the quarian continued to advance, staying in the middle of the alley. Obviously trying not to get too close to the doorways or refuse containers, where an enemy might be waiting to leap out. But his head was still turning side to side, hesitating to stare at each potential hiding spot, a fraction of a second too long.
When the quarian was in striking distance, the olive-skinned human took his chance. They wrestled but the human had more advantages over the quarian which at the end of it, assured him victory.
"Who are you?! Who sent you?!" The human demanded harshly, tightening his chokehold on his adversary.
"Golo!" The quarian squirmed from under him.
The human loosened his hold slight in response to finding the figure compliant to his dominance, "Golo sent you?"
"I AM Golo!"
Momentary silence reigned between them, which stopped with a grunt of disgust from the human. Much to Akane's surprise, the man rolled off of him shortly after, a faint trace of recognition flickering the human's eyes.
"You were supposed to meet me in the bar," said the human, much calmer. Not bothering to help the quarian up from the ground. Golo got to his feet gingerly, checking to see if anything was broken.
"My pardon," Golo switched to English, "I set up a meeting so I could watch you from a safe distance to make sure you're alone. I've had too many meetings in the past where the person I was supposed to meet was only a lure to draw me out into an ambush.
"Why is that?" The human wondered aloud, his irritation growing. "You make a habit of double-crossing people?"
"My word is my bond," Golo assured him, "but there are many who dislike quarians. They think we are nothing but scavengers and thieves."
Sympathy resonated through the Uchiha as she remembered her dear friend Tali, who had expressed her concerns about the prejudice of the galaxy against her race.
Akane mind refocused as the male quarian continued, "I was going to follow you back to your apartment. And then make face to face contact with you there."
"Instead, you drew a weapon on me."
Golo was quick to object, "Only for self-defence! When you ran I knew I've been spotted. I was afraid you would try to kill me!"
"I still might." The human replied but something told her it was an empty threat since the man had already had an opportunity to kill Golo if he wished to.
The quarian seemed to think he was out of danger and went to pick up his fallen pistol, the human eyed him pointedly in case Golo attempted to try something funny. The tension slackened slightly, as did their banter when they discussed further arrangements. They had some disagreements but lastly approved of a 'public but not too public place' to talk.
Of course, Akane was on their track.
Golo ended up taking him into a local gambling hall in the district; the Fortune's Den. She had lost them for a short period because the krogan guards denied her entrance. She resolved the issue with a slow approach, her form rendered invisible by the Meisaigakure no Jutsu.
She found them quickly since there weren't that many people inside and slyly took a place in earshot. No one seemed to have paid much attention to her arrival.
"Let's get down to business." The human scratched at his narrow beard. "You said you can give us transmission frequencies and communication codes for the Migrant Fleet."
This had Akane on the high alarm in milliseconds. Why wouldn't she, when it was her friend's beloved home they were talking about? Chakra pulsed in her eardrums as a measure of not wanting any details to accidentally bypass her ears.
"I can't actually give you the transition codes," Golo informed him. "They've changed since I was last part of the flotilla."
She watched the human bite his lip, discerning a smell of aggression from him.
"However, I do have something to offer you," Golo resumed, seemingly oblivious to the man's barely contained rage. "I will lead you to someone who'll provide you with the information you want - for a price."
"That wasn't our deal!"
"You need to learn to be flexible." The quarian said with a shrug. "Improvise. Adapt. That is the way of my people. It is how I survived when I first found myself on this station.
The human took a moment to go over his thoughts, then demanded, "Tell me why you were exiled."
Golo visibly hesitated. A sound that might have been a sign of regret came from behind his mask and for a second, both of the attendees thought the quarian wasn't going to respond.
"About ten years ago... I tried to make a deal with the Collectors."
She should feel predatory elation from uncovering new information about her objective's dealings but nothing else settled in her other than increasing worry.
"I thought the Collectors were just a myth."
If only he knew.
"A common misconception. Particularly in Council Space. However, I can assure you from personal experience that they are very real."
"What kind of deal did you make with them."
This time, Golo answered without hesitation that made Akane doubt his previous reaction, "They wanted two dozen pure quarians. Men and women who had spent their entire life on the Fleet. Uncontaminated by visits from other worlds."
"I thought every quarian had to leave the Fleet during their Pilgrimage." The human remarked, referring to the quarian rite of passage into adulthood.
"Not all quarians make the Pilgrimage. Exceptions are made for those too sick or infirm to survive outside the colony. And in rare cases, an individual with valuable skill and talent can receive a dispensation from the Admiralty," explained Golo.
"I knew from the start I'd probably get caught," he added almost regretfully which sounded entirely unconvincing. "But the terms of their offer were too good to pass up."
Despite the confusing nod, the man wondered aloud, "If the Collectors are real, why hasn't more been done to try and stop their activities?"
"As long as you can profit from the deal who cares?" Golo replied as if there was no shame in his words at all. His rhetorical question encapsulating the general attitude of the entire Terminus Systems in a single breath.
Akane faintly opposed the grimace of utter disgust from making an appearance on her expression, despite her unnoticed position. The same couldn't be said about her thoughts that brushed at her limits of self-restraint which the quarian continued to wear down with every selfish sentence that escaped his talkative mouth.
"They show up and offer something worth a few million credits, and all you have to do is give them a couple of dozen prisoners in exchange. They're no worse than the slavers but they pay a lot better."
"Isn't anybody worried about what they're doing behind that relay? They could be making powerful new genetic weapons. What if they are studying species to learn our weaknesses and vulnerabilities so they can invade?"
The quarian only laughed, the sound reverberating off his mask with a distant hollow timbre. "I have no doubt they're up to something unpleasant. But they've been doing this for 500 years! If they were planning an invasion it would have happened by now."
If only they knew.
"But aren't you even curious?"
"The curious tried to go through the Omega-4 Relay," he reminded his human companion, "and they don't come back. The rest of us here are more worried about getting killed by our neighbour than what's happening on the far side of the galaxy. You need to stay focused to survive out here."
"You said you could lead me to people who could give me those transmission codes."
Golo nodded eagerly, glad the subject had turned back to their current business. "I can set up a meeting with the crew from one of the scout ships from the Migrant Fleet. Just make sure you take one of them alive."
The Illusive Man POV
Somewhere in the galaxy, there sat a man.
Palming a glass of whisky in his right while dangling a lit cigarette in his left hand, like he usually did. His steely-blue prosthetic eyes flickered over the newest reports from his operatives. Despite the lack of artificial light inside his vast office, the rays from the withering star in front of him illuminated it sufficiently enough to be able to discern the man's features.
Putting the glass aside after a small sip, he ran his freed hand over his close-cropped silver-grey hair, slicking a few stray strands back into its neat position. Having read through the larger portion of the messages, he discarded the interface with a wave of his hand, needing a change of scenery that would help him sort out his thoughts.
The view had a calming effect on him as he stared at it absentmindedly. There was much opportunity within the current state of the galaxy. It didn't happen every day that something like the Battle of the Citadel had the Council stunned - which was officially described as an attack by a rogue Spectre leading an army of geth.
But TIM knew better than take things at face value.
Either way, the event had led to the Alliance Navy becoming a dominant military force in the galaxy and Humanity's place in Citadel space was undeniable. The man couldn't help but feel spurred on by these events, deciding to push ahead with his plans.
He had already notified his inside source at the Ascencion Project, Dr Jiro Toshiwa, to expect Paul Grayson at the station with a dose of freshly developed biotic-enhancing serum, which had been delivered to him at his apartment on Earth by Pel. He hoped that they would successfully make a step forward in Gillian's experiment.
Pel had done his part and TIM decided to send him off to Omega to meet a new contact of his for another scheme. He had hope that the contact would help his trusted agent to get the transmission codes for the Migrant Fleet. Codes that Cerberus could use to monitor the Quarian vessels.
TIM had long had it mind to have his own pair of eyes at the Migrant Fleet. But they were closed off residents and rarely opened their doors to strangers, which proved to be a big thorn in his agenda.
The interest he held in the Quarians and their Migrant Fleet was unmistakable.
The man didn't trust an alien species that effectively possessed the largest armada of ships in the galaxy. However, he was also greatly impressed by the quarians' technological expertise, namely their creation of the geth and their continued survival despite the odds stacked against them.
In the end, it all came down if his agents fulfilled their task to Cerberus' benefit. Until then, he would wait for the newest developments but something reached out to him at the back of his head; a feeling. He couldn't discern of what nature this warning was but it felt like a premonition of something...
Something that would change everything.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
This couldn't have happened again.
The shinobi had taken the drawbacks of splitting her power in two into account but when it came to her state of health, she failed to see that she had still not recovered from that.
Akane had, once again, slept in.
And the last time it happened, the repercussions were...
Panic flooded her soul once she realized her mistake, searching the entire station for Golo and Pel, only to find out that they had already left. Despite her best efforts to grab every detail about their plan, her focus must have regressed the longer she kept tabs on them.
As someone who had had a 'long' carrier in the Anbu, she had to pick up different sleeping habits. Had to condition her body to require less sleep and still deliver the best performance. But as with many other things, she seemed to have forgotten that she was still a child in growth, which meant that all the missed hours were slowly catching up on her.
Akane had let them down...
Just like with mother, just like with Shirone.
A familiar feeling of guilt began taking ahold of her soul, springing forth from the knowledge that she could have saved them. Guilt had once again become her punisher but unlike the last times, there was a distinctive uncertainty veiled on it. She didn't know what became of the quarians. Never knew what became of the people she had failed to save.
After a week of no appearance of either of them, she confessed that she was ready to give up but then...
Golo had shown himself and it took all of her esteemed temperament not to pounce on him with her Sharingan.
But she had yet to see how her Sharingan affected different species, so it was unwise to make use of her eyes... yet. A voice at the back of her mind had told her that he would still prove to be useful before she resorted to killing him. Her instincts also played in favour of those thoughts and after being right once, perhaps they would lead her onto something again.
The chance of the human being with him on the station was unlikely but Akane wouldn't dream of giving up now that she had located at least one of the culprits. And she made sure she wouldn't let him out of her sight for longer than a minute.
Golo had neither contacted nor met with anyone suspicious other than that Elcor merchant from whom he got his groceries from. That was until another quarian came into the picture, taking Golo by surprise because he had felt threatened enough to leave through the elcor's backdoor.
That scrawny shrimp was met with a confident posture of thick armour with an impressive shotgun at disposal, ready to bust Golo's head into pieces.
The difference between the two kinsmen was stark in so many things even Akane couldn't recognize. The Uchiha was almost forced to step in an effort to keep her 'best shot at Pel's whereabouts' alive but stopped at the minute she recognized that the quarian wouldn't pull the trigger.
"Don't move or I'll blow your head off!"
"Turn around slowly." The voice appeared light as if it lacked that last step into matureness, implicating that the quarian was still of young age. "Are you Golo?"
"You wouldn't be holding a gun on me if I were someone else," Golo replied, putting up a brave front that could be mistaken for confidence.
"Do you know why I am here?"
Golo replied off-handedly with a 'No'.
"A scout ship from the Idenna was brokering a deal here on Omega last week. The Cyniad - they disappeared. I think you know what happened to them."
"Who are you? Are you part of the Idenna crew?" The older quarian asked, obviously stalling in an effort to come up with a plan.
"My name is Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya."
So it was as she had anticipated. Akane didn't recognize his clan name but the 'nar' in Lemm's surname marked him as technically still a child, which meant he was most likely here on his pilgrimage. Perhaps of the same age as Tali had been during her pilgrimage. Furthermore, he was associated with the vessel Tesleya, not Idenna. Which meant he didn't know the crew of the Idenna personally.
Evaluating the new income of information, having heard enough to connect all the dots, she thought of a quick scenario of what might have happened. Pel and Golo had ambushed a quarian vessel of the Idenna. Then had taken, as per plan, one of them hostage. The hostage was definitely in possession of the human.
If she could save at least the sole survivor, then it might be enough to satisfy her guilty mind.
Meanwhile, they carried on with a banter consisting of an argument of suspicions and accusations that Golo had all lost. Leading up to him confessing his involvement and rattling out Pel's deal to save his skin. Even going as far as owning up to his callousness and greed; to make his denial of direct involvement seem more believable.
That guy had no shame as he spun thread upon thread of lies, hoping the youngster would get caught up in it.
"You sicken me!" Lemm said. If he hadn't been wearing his visor Akane suspected he would have spit on the ground but followed up with another threat of death.
"I don't know what happened to the crew of the Cyniad!" Golo said quickly before Lemm could work up his anger enough to pull the trigger.
"But I know how you could find out."
Another trap.
He hesitated, then added boldly, "Give me 500 credits and I'll tell you."
Lemm brought the shotgun up so he could slide down the barrel then step forward until it was pressed hard against the other quarian's mask.
Way to go kid! THAT part of Akane's mind cheered. Tell him who's the boss!
"How about you tell me for free?"
"Pel's renting a warehouse in the Talon district." Golo sputtered out almost instantly.
She watched Lemm take a step back, lowering the shotgun. "Take me there! Now!"
"Don't be stupid!" Golo snapped, emboldened now that the weapon was no longer pointing directly at him. "What if he has lookouts? What do you think they will do when they see two quarians strolling down the street towards their hideout?
"If you want to do this, you have to be smart," Golo told him, his voice slipping into a slick merchant's patter. "I can tell you where the warehouse is but that's the easy part. You will need to scout it out. Figure out what's going on before you tried to get inside."
Lemm offered no sign of acknowledgement but for Golo, it was enough to press further.
"You need a plan."
"Don't fall for it kid." Akane thought while eyeing Lemm worriedly.
"I thought you didn't care what happened to the Migrant Fleet. Why do you suddenly want to help?" Lemm inquired, clearly suspicious.
"I could pretend it's because I feel guilty that I might have accidentally led the Cyniad into a trap," Golo explained, spinning another half-truth. Akane's speciality.
"But honestly... I just figure this is the best way to keep you from shoving that shotgun in my face again."
Just you wait.
Lemm seemed satisfied with the explanation. "Okay... we'll try it your way."
"Let's get off the street." The older quarian suggested, "Find somewhere more... private? Like my apartment?"
"Lead the way," Lemm answered, collapsing his gun and slapping it once again into the clip on the small of his back.
If Golo thought the smile under his mask would go unnoticed then he was sorely mistaken as the unknown participant regarded him with a look that promised retribution.
You should seriously consider getting one of those clips.
She had Lemm in her near-360º field of vision as he peered through the binoculars at the non-descript warehouse the kunoichi was making her way to. He had been watching it for some time, perched atop the roof of a tall four-story building on the next block. Akane was unsure what he was searching for but whatever it was, she would be wasting precious time if she waited another minute.
Akane had to hurry while the quarian still drew breath, trying not to gag at the state they left him in.
Stripped and bare, left to rot.
She figured the two of them (or at least Lemm) had already picked up on her, jumping from roof to roof in her newly bought clothes; although she was being subtle. With her amplified vision active, she crouched low as two rovers made their way out of the structure. To where was of no importance to the kunoichi, as long as the hostage remained here.
Although much to Akane's misfortune, Pel was in one of them and with that, safely out of her reach.
She would settle the score with him and Golo another time. The mission had priority. Personal feelings - did not.
The Human leader had left three of his members to stand vigil, having taken five of them with him. Hardly a challenge for an assassin of her calibre. Most of them, she observed, were taking their guard assignments indolently which made it a child's play to execute her plan.
The wounded quarian was down in the basement; in a delirious state which forced her to apply haste. There were no hatches on the roof so she had no choice but to look for alternative routes. Even if it meant creating one. Which was where the windows came in. It was only thanks to the Byakugan's miscellaneous ability to see infrared that she was able to spot the small emitters along the outside of the window frame.
They would have sounded the alarm if she had decided to break in without overriding them. So the only way to do so was through a bit of tinkering with her omni-tool that had Tali's influence written all over it. With the emitters disabled, the only hurdle that had to be overcome was how to cut the window open without actually alarming the whole neighbourhood!
"I should have taken a glass cutter with me... guess I will need to do it the old-fashioned way."
Stealth is so overrated these days...
Seeing no other option, she simply threw herself forward, relying on her strength to break the glass carefully enough not to get herself cut. Her momentum carried her into the corridor where she hit the floor, tucked into a forward roll and came up running.
She knew she had to work fast lest the mercenaries picked up on the noise that echoed like thunder in the cavernous warehouse. The kunoichi moved downstairs into their basements rather than taking the twisted hallways to the two-story garage.
One of the human mercenaries had already been making his way in her direction. By the time it took him to react the Anbu took care of him by concentrating lightning chakra into her hand and thrusting it through his body. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to take him out in one shot because of the kinetic barriers.
Letting the male slump to the floor, she didn't stop for a second as she entered what appeared to be the barracks. She distinctively heard two voices of the humans who were still preparing to investigate after their friend. But they never got the chance as Akane ruthlessly ended their lives.
Even if she could have spared one to interrogate - there was simply no time.
With no danger inbound, she resumed her way. The barracks led down a short hall to several offices Pel had, most likely, set up as intel and command posts. Looking for the computers, she quickly connected her omni-tool as an OSD to transfer all the data from it while trying to bust the deadbolt latch open. It was the only thing keeping Akane from the horrifically tortured hostage.
She clenched her teeth almost to the point of bleeding as she tried and succeeded in ripping it open with chakra-augmented strength. Perishing the thought of holding back in favour of saving up her reserves for possible danger in the near future. She jumped down the stairs into the square room and made a beeline for the suit-less quarian.
The sight she was met with almost overwhelmed her and definitely set its mark permanently inside her memory. Because it was this picture that signified the consequences of her actions. In this case - inaction. The feelings it aroused in her felt more potent than the burns she had suffered ever could.
"This is my doing."
There was no time to think. Akane abandoned all her reservations about experimenting on aliens with her chakra and simply let loose. Like one shrinkage of a regular heartbeat.
It was all or nothing.
The captive didn't seem to acknowledge her at first. That was until he reacted to her presence at first with a yelp of fear, then began trashing violently against the restraints as she tried to relieve him of them. Akane didn't recognize the mash of words he tried to force out of him but with the intent of saving up his scarce energy, the shinobi knocked him out.
She worked swiftly although having to operate outside of her field of expertise. The probability of her succeeding was low but Akane certainly didn't lack determination. There was no way in hell that she would give up on him.
That was until her mind began flaring with images of memory so uncannily similar to this.
Shirone lying defeatedly against the pile of concrete.
Haruko bleeding out in her arms.
Oh, no...
The distant feeling of a panic attack was closing in on her. The images already beginning to flash and replace the present.
Not now...
Her mind became a battlefield of memories, feelings and sensations.
She pressed her teeth together, trying to anchor herself to the quarian through pain. But the more she looked at the barely breathing male in front of her, the quicker she felt herself falling into the abyss.
Everything came to her at once.
The guilt for not being able to save anyone from her family...
The heartbreak at having had to kill her lover...
The knowledge of having failed her duty as a shinobi of the Leaf...
The memories of bearing witness to the extinction of another civilization...
The loneliness from having no one to navigate this new reality...
To know that the future awaited even more death...
What was she even living for?
Too much. It was too much for her.
"I-I can't... I-I..."
Akane felt herself feeling swallowed by her own conscious. Into a dark, inescapable chasm of suffering and misery. Devoid of love. Devoid of hope. Devoid of anything positive. Her sight blackened and she found herself losing the feeling in her limbs.
She couldn't feel her body violently shaking. She couldn't hear the rushed breaths that left her lungs. She couldn't feel the chakra flowing through her being. She couldn't feel the frantic beating of her heart against the cage of her ribs.
"I am alone..."
Was this death? Was she living her nightmare?
"No."
This... This was her lowest point.
There were neither her own nor any words of wisdom that could help her overcome this situation. The anchor broke and she was left helpless to the stormy waves of her mind. It was then that she realized that she had been there before once... but something appeared to be different this time.
No matter how much she tried to swim to the surface, the heavier she felt. As if something was deliberately trying to pull her to the ground.
But what was trying to- she looked down...
There, clawing at her foot, was herself. She was dragging herself to the depths.
Even though deep down she knew it wasn't real, nothing stopped her mind from going into a state of panic. Every rational thought left her and thinking became difficult as she was dragged further away from the light of the surface. Sinking into the darkness of the depths.
"Has my life any purpose at all?" She couldn't help but repeat the same question.
Save me... save me... save me... save me... save me... save me... save me... save me... save me...
Who was going to save her?
"No one," she answered miserably for herself.
"Precisely." Akane heard someone say, the voice eerily resembling hers.
"What?!" The uncharacteristic sound of confusion left Akane unintentionally. She thought she was alone.
Until it spoke again, "Who do you think I am?"
And this time, 'it', materialised but the form it assumed shocked her because for a moment, she mistook it for her twin. But her twin would never wear such an apathetic expression. It was- her?! She was seeing the same, colourless replica that toted Akane here in the first place.
She recuperated from her stupor quick enough to answer, "Me?"
The figure came closer until it was at arm's length from Akane but the shinobi herself strangely didn't find its proximity threatening. "Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
No response.
She thought better than to question further, anticipating it would only lead to more cryptic answers. It was a waste to look around since there was nothing around to catch her attention.
Acknowledging defeat, she plopped down on the ground from exhaustion, both mental and physical.
Her presence here was quite paradoxical. She was surrounded by nothingness yet felt overwhelmed. She felt as if she was suffocating yet she wasn't losing awareness.
"Tell me..." Akane began solemnly, seemingly having lost all will to fight, "when is it okay to give up?"
She wasn't expecting a reply but was presented with one nonetheless, "Do you want to give up?"
After a moment of thought, she thought her response was clear, "Y-"
She bit her tongue. What had stopped her from finishing her confession? This was it - this was what she wanted. Wasn't it?
Akane had great difficulty organising her mind. Her thoughts were simply all over the place! She couldn't hope to make a rational decision!
"Perhaps..." The replica cut her off from her thoughts, "it isn't a matter of the mind but rather the heart?"
Silence. The cogs inside her overworked head came to a halt, spotting the significance of undeniable truth. Intrigue temporarily replaced her pessimistic thoughts. What was this 'replica', as she had called it? What was this manifestation that supplied her with words meant to subtly steer her in the right direction?
"What are you?" she rephrased her initial question.
"Can't figure it out on your own?" Her 'other self' quipped provocatively and it vexed her somehow. What was this unusual familiarity she was experiencing during their heart-to-heart talk?
There was just something about this other 'her' that made Akane rapidly lose her cool, "Just answer me!"
The replica remained unfazed by her display of anger, even adding a round of chuckles to irk Akane even further, "Think again, dumbass!"
The first things that came to mind were the annoying comments lacking any tact. The neverending stream of sarcastic remarks with ridiculing intent. It couldn't be... no. Not HER... For the love of Kami!
It took her some time but her brain eventually caught up. Her eyes widened as she recognized the replica, "YOU!"
That earned her a toothy grin, that felt alien to see on her face, "Took you long enough!"
"You are part of my mind. My 'helpful coping mechanism' as you called yourself..." The kunoichi paused, "What are you doing here?"
Next thing she knew she had a split personality or what else on her already stuffed plate. The kunoichi sincerely hoped that wouldn't be the case. The eye-roll she received was purely out of moodiness, "Duh, I am here to help you cope. What else would I be doing?!"
It was Akane's turn to roll her onyx eyes at her antics. This was just what she needed - another Joker. Yet there was one thing she had to give to her supposed 'coping mechanism': its encouraging words were doing a great job at keeping her depressive thoughts at bay. At least for the time being.
"Why are you looking like me?"
"Because I am you- more like a part of you. So why should I assume a form any other than that which I am part of?"
"Why have I never met you before when I ended up here?"
"Hmm- I was always here. You just never sought me out. But I guess it doesn't matter because this isn't the last time we will see each other!"
"Wait-!" Akane reached out to her.
"Until next time!"
Just like in her confrontation with Haruko, Akane felt a distinctive feeling of being pulled back into the real world but she still had questions! Akane watched helplessly as she was being harshly pulled from the depths and before she knew it, she was back with the quarian - out of breath.
How could she have forgotten about him!
But miraculously, he still had her chakra residing within him. Effectively keeping him from dying. But his condition wasn't bettering at all. The Shōsen Jutsu wasn't enough to repair the damage that had already been done. Without his suit to block out all the bacteria, his body already began showing the consequences of its absence.
A fungal infection had taken over one of his legs. If only she could stabilise his condition long enough to get him to her ship!
Suddenly, she heard the sound of rumbling motors and she realized that Pel had come back. Out of time, she engulfed the quarian in her cloak and hoisted him into her arms. She felt a bit exhausted after all the effort spent on healing him but she had enough strength to escape, having grabbed her omni-tool in the process.
The cold felt unpleasant against her skin but it did well to keep her alert because no matter how safe one felt on Omega, there was still a large chance to be killed at any given time. Good thing she had memorized a few safe routes by then.
It was in no time that she punched her code into the security system and with a faint click, the airlock to the ship opened to her and the landing ramp descended with a swoosh of hydraulics. Inside the ship, Akane set him down into the cleanest room available to minimise taxing his immune system any further. If there was any left.
For a brief moment, the kunoichi considered releasing her scouting Kage Bunshin but found it within her chakra reserves to safely create another one who would tend to the quarian in her absence. Her body felt heavy and she had a strong desire for sleep but she willed herself to continue, jumping from structure to structure to get back to Golo's apartment.
Her patient wouldn't survive another hour without a suit, so Golo was her best chance to get one. Being the only quarian on Omega to her knowledge. Even if she had to peel his own from his skin. He deserved no less to what he had brought upon one of his own.
And... she still had a score to settle.
Skipping from the roof of the building Golo resided in, she discreetly hacked one door after another to get through to him. The Uchiha could tell via Byakugan that Golo was resting and even vaguely noted that Lemm wasn't with him. Perhaps she had misjudged his intentions when she had seen him accepting the older quarian's help a little too quick.
Either way, she had trouble overriding Golo's apartment door, having such complex security that would discourage any other assailant. Shame for him that she had been taught by a quarian herself. It was only through Tali's tips and tricks that Akane was able to crack the lock.
But once past the automatic door, an alarm was set off that alerted Golo of her presence. She should have anticipated that he would lay a trap. Blitzing over the hand signs, Golo grabbed his pistol from under his pillow and began shooting in the direction of the door.
A second later and Akane would have been injured or even dead if the older quarian had gotten a lucky shot. But instead of Akane's body, he shot a replacement log. He lowered his guard at the sound of a clear hit, completing the main purpose of the Kawarimi no Jutsu by believing he had injured his target.
In the meanwhile, Akane used this brief lapse in the quarian's attention to stage a counterattack, careful not to damage his suit too much.
Genjutsu wouldn't work because there was no direct eye contact, so she would have to settle with incapacitating. She quickly covered the distance and knocked the gun out of his hand.
"What?!" She paid his words of surprise no mind as she had him on the ground, arms crossed behind his back. He trashed wildly in the last attempt to free himself but was met with unrelenting force.
"What do you want?!" he shrieked out and weren't it for her translator, she wouldn't have understood what he had said.
"An enviro-suit."
"But I don't have any left to spare!"
A pity for him. "Then yours shall suffice."
"NO! NO!"
Golo began resisting as if his life depended on it and in fact, it did. There was this human saying that complimented the reasoning behind her actions: An eye for an eye. Ever since she had come to witness the true cruelty of life, there had always been another side of her. A darker, colder, more sinister side that reflected just what life during the war had done to her.
At first, she had been afraid of it, afraid it would turn her into something of evil. But later, she had come to realize that it was part of her. She acknowledged that while she was capable of doing good, she was also capable of acts of evil.
For what the world needed wasn't another hero but a monster. A monster to battle the Reapers. How else could she have had the resolve to kill the Abenjāzu? It took her to shred every good feeling that had been left inside her.
And from then on, she hadn't believed that there was another way to solve things other than choosing between two lesser evils. Perhaps it was from then that she had lost all hope in the good of the world, the good of people. That was until Shepard came into her life. This good-for-nothing paragon of everything Akane never embodied.
A beacon of light, inspiration for many. She had shown that there were always more options than what Akane had limited herself to. Even for the battle-hardened Uchiha - but where there was light, darkness followed. And she feared it might have cost Shepard her life.
Mercilessly robbing Golo of his consciousness, she began undressing the quarian. Hoping that her patient would fit into it. After much struggle of searching for the different clasps that held the suit together, Golo was left naked on the floor. A colourful mass against the metallic floor.
She hadn't shown much interest in the anatomy behind their suits, having once unintentionally breached Tali's privacy when she activated her Byakugan. Of course, she controlled which obstacles she would see through but that was before Tali taught her about the quarian culture.
Since then, she had thought twice before using her superior ocular power carelessly. With Golo at her mercy, an idea sprung to her mind. Golo was undoubtedly involved with the Collectors so it would be beneficial to search his memory via her Sharingan. Thing was, she was out of chakra to activate it, which left her with only one option.
Reading him through an experiential exchange system based on physical touch a.k.a prothean touch-reading. She would prefer not to but the potential knowledge of the Collectors' whereabouts felt too good to pass up. So, taking a moment to clear her mind, she slowly put down her mental barriers.
She reached out to touch Golo's skin and felt herself being linked to his mind, where all of his experiences laid. She filed quickly through his memory, grabbing onto a few things while she was still capable of upholding the link.
One of the things Akane disliked about this was the fact that she had to lower her mental barriers to be able to perform it at all. This was a big no-go for the ever-cautious Anbu. It made her feel vulnerable and her mind dangerously accessible. Her apprehensiveness only increased after Sovereign had tried to claim control over her.
Though she knew that Haruko's Kotoamatsukami ensured life-long immunity towards indoctrination, the attempt had left her to further fortify her already guarded mind, which made the touch-reading option all the more discouraging. But on the other hand, the gains far outweighed the sacrifices.
This system could transfer complex ideas, such as being capable of learning a new skill or foreign language with a single touch. So she thought picking up the actual Quarian language along the way was a big plus. Longer than last time, the connection severed and she was back inside her own body with a slight headache.
Having learnt enough, she set out back to her ship, buying various vaccinations and immunizations, antibiotics, immuno-boosters, herbal supplements... as well as rations for the dying quarian aboard her ship. She had paid a fortune but a fortune well-spent if it would raise the chances of Hilo surviving.
Through Golo's memory, she had learnt that his full name was Hilo'Jaa vas Idenna. He had been the pilot of the Cyniad before he was ambushed and taken hostage by Pel. It was largely Golo's fault that he had contracted several alien diseases that left him feverish. He had been the one to crack Hilo's helmet after all.
Back on her ship, her first intention turned to get Hilo'Jaa into Golo's enviro-suit which took her less than two minutes now that she knew how to do it. Ordering the Kage Bunshin to get them off the station while she tended to the quarian.
"This will be a long night."
Words dictionary:
Kawarimi no Jutsu 変わり身の術 / Body Replacement Technique - The instant before they are to be struck by an attack, the user replaces themselves with a block of wood or something similar. Because the attack does hit something, opponents may briefly believe that they've successfully struck the user. But this is merely an optical illusion and opponents will quickly notice what's happened. If users are fast enough, they can use this brief lapse in the opponent's attention to stage a counterattack.
Author's note:
Hello, my dearies! I know it had been long but bear with me that I wanted to make absolutely no mistakes in the timeline so it took me longer. I am having the next chapters planned out and those of you who are particularly invested in ME may have noticed what happenings were going on in this chapter. That's right, we are currently in Mass Effect: Ascension novel, though I have briefly touched Mass Effect: Incursion in the last chapter as well. I profess it is difficult to implement Akane into ME but I am having a great time doing so. Thank you for your patience.